./ 


^,3.6. 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM 


y 


BY 


IGNAZ  GOLDZIHER,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Semitic  Philology  at  the  University  of  Budapest 


Translated  fro»i  the  German 

BY 

Kate  Chambers  Seelye,   Ph.D. 


With  an  Introduction  by  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D,,  Professor  of  Semitic 
Languages  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 


NEW    HAVEN  :     YALE    UNIVEKSITY    PRESS 

LONDON  :     HUMPHREY'    MILFORD 

OXFORD    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

MDCCcbxvii 


^ 

^^^ 


Copyright,  1917 

BY 

Yale  University  Press 


First  published,  February,  1917 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Inteoduction vii 

Chaptee       I    Mohammed  and  Islam 1 

Chaptee     II     The  Development  of  Law 37 

Chaptee    III     Dogmatic  Development 84 

Chaptee    IV    Asceticism  and  Sufiism 148 

Chaptee      V    Mohammedan  Sects 214 

Chaptee    VI    Later  Development 295 

Index 345 


INTRODUCTION 

Through  the  publication  during  the  past  fifty  years  of 
a  large  number  of  Arabic  sources  for  the  study  of  Moham- 
medanism, before  that  accessible  only  in  the  manuscript 
collections  of  European  libraries,  our  knowledge  of  the 
origin  and  course  of  Islam,  and  more  particularly  of  the 
development  of  Islamic  theology  in  the  various  countries 
to  which  the  religion  spread,  has  been  greatly  extended. 
Hand  in  hand  with  the  publication  of  important  Arabic 
texts  has  gone  the  critical  study  of  the  material  in  the 
form  of  monographs,  and  of  papers  in  the  transactions 
and  journals  of  learned  societies.  Naturally,  European 
scholars — in  Germany  and  Austria,  in  England  and 
France,  Holland  and  Italy — have  been  the  chief  workers 
in  this  field,  though  during  the  last  decades  some  valu- 
able contributions  have  been  made  by  American  scholars. 

The  strong  impetus  to  Arabic  studies,  the  result  of 
which  is  seen  in  the  considerable  body  of  scholars  now 
devoting  themselves  to  the  subject,  may  be  traced  back 
to  the  distinguished  French  Orientalist,  Silvestre  de 
Sacy  (1758-1838)  and  to  his  pupil  Heinrich  Leberecht 
Fleischer  (1801-1888),  for  many  years  Professor  of 
Oriental  Languages  at  the  University  of  Leipzig,  and 
who  had  the  distinction  of  training  a  large  proportion  of 
the  Arabic  scholars  of  the  following  generation.  Other 
notable  Arabists  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
were  Gustav  Wilhelm  Freytag  of  the  University  of  Bonn 
(1788-1861)  also  a  pupil  of  de  Sacy,  Ferdinand  Wuesten- 
feld  (1808-1899),  particularly  active  in  the  publication  of 
Arabic  texts,  Heinrich  Ewald  (1803-1875)  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Gottingen,  and  Reinhart  Dozy  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden  (1820-1883),  while  coming  closer  to  our 
own  days  we  have  the  late  Professor  M.  J.  de  Goeje 


viii  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

(1836-1909),  Dozy's  successor;  Ignazio  Guidi  of  Rome 
(1844-  ),  Julius  Wellhausen  of  Gottingen  (1844-  ), 
and  Theodor  Noeldeke  of  Strassburg,  the  latter  perhaps 
the  greatest  Semitist  of  any  age  and  who  is  still  active  at 
eighty.  Among  the  pupils  of  Professor  Fleischer,  during 
whose  lifetime  Leipzig  was  the  center  of  Arabic  studies, 
were  such  eminent  scholars  as  the  late  David  Heinrich 
Miiller  of  the  University  of  Vienna  (1846-1913),  the  late 
Albert  Socin  (1844-1899)  who  became  Fleischer's  succes- 
sor, the  late  Hartwig  Derenbourg  (1844-1908)  who  filled 
the  chair  of  Silvestre  de  Sacy  in  the  Ecole  des  Langues 
Orientales  Vivantes,  Paris,  and  Ignaz  Goldziher  of  the 
University  of  Budapest,  whose  prodigious  learning  led 
Professor  Noeldeke  to  proclaim  him  recently  as  ^'without 
a  rival  in  the  domain  of  Mohammedan  theolog^^  and 
philosophy."  English  readers  will,  therefore,  be  par- 
ticularly grateful  to  Mrs.  Seelye  for  having  made  acces- 
sible to  them  a  volume  in  which  Professor  Goldzilier 
sums  up  in  popular  form  the  results  of  his  life-long 
researches  in  the  field  in  which  he  is  an  acknowledged 
master.  The  six  chapters  of  the  present  work  were  orig- 
inally prepared  for  delivery  in  this  country  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Committee  for  Lectures  on  the 
History  of  Eeligion  in  1908,  but  owing  to  illness,  from 
which  he  has  happily  recovered.  Professor  Goldziher  was 
unable,  after  he  had  prepared  the  lectures,  to  undertake 
the  trip  across  the  ocean.  The  present  translation  into 
English  is  authorized  by  the  distinguished  author,  who 
has  in  the  course  of  a  revision  of  his  work  made  some 
additions  in  order  to  bring  it  down  to  date.  It  was  my 
good  fortune  to  have  had  Mrs.  Seelye  as  a  pupil  in  Ara- 
bic for  a  time,  and  to  suggest  to  her  the  preparation  of 
this  translation,  at  the  same  time  undertaking,  as  my 
share,  to  go  over  her  version  and  to  compare  it  sentence 
for  sentence  with  the  original  so  as  to  make  certain  by  our 
united  efforts  of  having  reproduced  Professor  Goldzi- 


INTRODUCTIOlsr.  ix 

lier's  exposition  accurately  and,  as  I  hope,  in  a  readable 
form.  The  task  was  not  an  easy  one,  as  in  general  trans- 
lations from  German  into  English  require  particular  care 
and  skill;  and  these  difficulties  are  increased  when  it 
comes  to  translating  a  work  such  as  that  of  Professor 
Goldziher,  containing  a  great  many  technical  terms  and 
involving  the  exposition  of  a  subject  exceedingly  intri- 
cate at  times. 

Before  proceeding  to  outline  the  main  features  of  Pro- 
fessor Goldziher 's  important  volume,  which  will  no 
doubt  take  rank  as  an  authoritative  presentation  of  the 
theme,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  give  a  brief  sketch 
of  the  author's  career. 

Born  in  Hungary  in  1850,  he  carried  on  his  university 
studies  at  Budapest,  Berlin,  Leyden  and  more  par- 
ticularly at  Leipzig.  After  obtaining  his  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Philosophy,  he  travelled  for  a  year  in  the  Orient 
and  was  one  of  the  first  Europeans  to  continue  his  Arabic 
studies  at  Al-Azhar,  the  famous  University  of  Cairo. 
Through  this  opportunity  he  not  only  became  conversant 
with  modern  Arabic  in  addition  to  his  knowledge  of  the 
classical  speech,  but  came  into  close  contact  with  native 
theologians  which  strengthened  his  interest  in  those 
phases  of  Mohammedanism  to  which  he  has  devoted  the 
greater  part  of  his  career.  On  his  return  to  his  own 
country  he  became  connected  with  the  University  of 
Budapest,  where  he  has  occupied  for  many  years  the 
chair  of  Oriental  Languages.  His  productivity  has  been 
as  extensive  as  it  has  been  valuable. 

Apart  from  an  earlier  work  on  ' '  Mythology  among  the 
Hebrews,''  of  which  an  English  translation  was  issued 
in  1877,  he  established  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing Arabic  scholars  of  his  time  by  a  volume  on  the  Zahi- 
rite  sect,  published  in  1884,  and  in  which  he  betrayed  that 
wide  range  of  learning  combined  with  rare  acumen,  which 
have  made  his  researches  so  invaluable  to  all  students 


X  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

of  Islam.  Two  volumes  of  * ^ Mohammedan  Studies" 
(1889-1890),  followed  by  two  further  volumes  of  studies 
on  Arabic  Philology  (1896-1899),  deal  with  many  impor- 
tant problems  and  embody  results  of  investigations  that, 
apart  from  their  intrinsic  value,  opened  up  new  avenues 
of  research  for  others. 

Professor  Goldziher  has  been  an  active  contributor  to 
the  leading  Oriental  journals  of  Europe  and  has  received 
the  recognition  of  honorary  membership  in  the  learned 
academies  of  England,  France,  Germany,  Denmark,  Hol- 
land, Austria-Hungary,  Sweden,  the  United  States,  and 
even  of  India  and  Egypt,  while  Cambridge  and  Aberdeen 
Universities  have  conferred  honorary  degrees  upon  him. 

The  present  volume  reveals  all  those  special  qualities 
distinguishing  Professor  Goldziher 's  work,  a  thorough 
grasp  of  the  niceties  of  Mohammedan  theology,  acquired 
as  a  result  of  the  profound  and  long-continued  study  of 
the  huge  Arabic  literature  on  the  subject,  critical  insight 
and  striking  originality  in  the  combination  of  innumer- 
able details  to  present  a  vivid  picture.  The  general  aim 
of  the  work  mav  be  set  doAvn  as  an  endeavor  to  set  forth 
in  detail  the  factors  involved  in  the  development  of  the 
rather  simple  and  relatively  few  ideas  launched  by 
Mohammed,  into  an  elaborate  and  complicated  system  of 
theology,  at  once  legal  and  speculative  and  at  the  same 
time  practical.  The  part  played  in  this  development 
through  the  military  conquests  of  the  followers  of 
Mohammed  during  the  first  two  or  three  generations 
after  his  death  is  shown  by  Professor  Goldziher  in  the 
manner  in  which  regulations  for  government  and  for 
religious  practices  are  evolved,  theoretically  on  the  basis 
of  the  utterances  in  the  Koran,  but  practically  in 
response  to  the  necessity  of  maintaining  a  strong  hold 
on  the  followers  of  Islam,  more  particularly  in  the  con- 
quered lands  outside  of  Arabia.  A  conflict  ensued 
between  the  worldly  minded  elements   concerned  with 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

problems  of  taxation  and  strengthening  governmental 
control,  and  the  pious  adherents  whose  absorption  in  the 
tenets  and  ideals  of  Mohammed's  teachings  was  as  com- 
plete as  it  was  sincere.  Professor  Goldziher  shows  how 
this  conflict  led  to  the  rise  of  innumerable  ^^traditions'' 
regarding  Mohammed's  sayings  and  doings,  as  the  pat- 
tern to  hold  good  for  all  times,  and  although  these  ^'tra- 
ditions," growing  into  an  extensive  ^^Hadith"  (that 
is,  'tradition")  literature,  have  turned  out  on  a  critical 
examination  to  be  for  the  larger  part  entirely  spurious, 
they  have  a  value  as  showing  the  increasing  emphasis 
laid  on  the  Prophet's  personality  as  the  ultimate  author- 
ity. It  is  to  Professor  Goldziher 's  researches  that  we 
owe  largely  the  present  view  taken  of  the  ^'Hadith"  lit- 
erature by  Arabic  scholars,  and  the  place  to  be  assigned 
to  it  in  the  development  of  both  Mohannnedan  law  and 
dogma.  In  this  volume  the  learned  author  sums  up  his 
studies  within  this  field,  and  adds  much  to  reinforce  his 
former  conclusions  of  the  manner  in  which  this  curious 
system  of  carrying  back  to  a  fictitious  source  the  reli- 
gious practices,  political  methods  and  theological  doc- 
trines arose  with  the  growth  of  the  little  religious  com- 
munity, founded  by  Mohammed,  into  a  world  religion 
in  close  affiliation  with  widely  extended  political  ambi- 
tions. Mohammedan  law  and  Mohammedan  dogmatism 
became  the  pivot  around  which  the  entire  history  of 
Islam  has  revolved  down  to  our  own  days.  The  two  chap- 
ters, in  which  this  legal  and  dogmatic  development  of  the 
religion  are  set  forth,  will  give  the  reader  entirely  new 
points  of  view  regarding  the  history  of  Islam,  and  pre- 
pare him  for  the  exposition  that  follows  of  ascetic  and 
mystic  movements  within  Mohammedanism  and  which 
still  hold  a  strong  sway  in  Mohammedan  lands. 

In  the  fifth  chapter  Professor  Goldziher  touches  upon 
the  most  intricate  of  all  problems  connected  with  Moham- 
medanism, the  formation  of  the  numerous  sects  in  Islam. 


xii  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

The  difficult  theme  is  set  forth  in  a  remarkably  illuminat- 
ing manner.  The  author  picks  out  the  salient  features 
of  the  two  chief  divisions  of  Mohammedanism — Sunna 
(or  Orthodoxy)  and  Shi 'ism — and  then  sets  forth  in 
logical  sequence  the  almost  endless  ramifications  of  Sun- 
nite  and  Shi'ite  doctrines.  For  all  who  would  seek  to 
penetrate  to  the  core  of  the  great  religion  which  still 
sways  the  lives  of  a  very  large  proportion  of  mankind, 
some  two  hundred  millions,  Professor  Goldziher's 
volume  will  be  an  indispensable  guide.  As  a  companion 
volume  to  it,  in  English,  it  may  be  proper  to  refer  here 
to  the  lectures  on  Mohammedanism,  delivered  in  this 
country,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Committee 
for  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Religion,  by  Professor 
C.  Snouck  Hurgronje^  before  various  universities  and 
now  published  in  book  form.  Always  excepting  Noel- 
deke,  who  forms  a  class  by  himself.  Professors  Goldziher 
and  Snouck  Hurgronje  are  the  two  leading  Arabic 
scholars  of  the  age,  recognized  as  such  the  world  over, 
and  English  readers  are  indeed  fortunate  to  have  at 
their  disposal  two  works  of  such  commanding  interest 
and  authoritative  status  that  complement  one  another. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  appearance  of  these  two  con- 
tributions to  our  knowledge  of  one  of  the  great  reli- 
gions of  the  world  will  stimulate  interest  in  the  subject, 
and  be  of  service  also  in  promoting  Arabic  studies  in  our 
American  universities. 

MoEKis  Jastkow,  Jr. 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  January,  1917. 


^Mohammedanism  by  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  (Xew  York,  Putnam's,  1916). 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM 


CHAPTER  I. 

MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

I.  The  question,  what  from  a  psychological  point  of 
view  is  the  origin  of  religion,  has  been  variously 
answered  by  investigators  of  the  subject  who  treat  reli- 
gion as  an  independent  science.  Prof.  C.  P.  Tiele  in  his 
Gifford  Lectures  at  Edinburgh  has  collected  a  number  of 
these  answers  and  submitted  them  to  a  critical  examina- 
tion.^ He  recognizes  the  consciousness  of  causality 
which  he  regards  inherent  in  man,  the  feeling  of  depend- 
ence, the  perception  of  the  eternal,  and  the  renunciation 
of  the  world  as  the  ruling  emotions  from  which  have 
sprung  the  seeds  of  psychic  religion.  To  me  this  phe- 
nomenon in  the  life  of  man  seems  to  be  of  far  too  com- 
plicated a  nature  to  justify  its  working  evidence  from  a 
single  motive.  Nowhere  do  we  find  religion  as  an 
abstraction,  disassociated  from  definite  historical  con- 
ditions. It  lives  in  deeper  and  higher  forms,  in  positive 
manifestations,  which  have  been  differentiated  through 
social  conditions. 

Any  one  of  these,  together  with  other  stiinuli  of  reli- 
gious instincts,  may  take  a  leading  place  without,  how- 
ever, entirely  excluding  other  auxiliary  factors.  In  the 
very  first  steps  of  its  development,  its  character  is  ruled 
by  a  predominating  motive,  which  maintains  its  leader- 
ship throughout  the  further  development  of  the  whole  his- 
torical life  of  the  religion.  This  holds  good  also  for 
religious  forms,  whose  rise  is  the  product  of  individual 
inspiration.  In  the  case  of  the  particular  religion,  with 
the  historical  aspects  of  which  we  are  to  deal  in  these 
lectures,  the  name  which  its  founder  gave  it  at  the  very 
beginning,  and  which  it  has  now  borne  for  fourteen  cen- 
turies reveals  its  prevailing  features  and  characteristics. 


2  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Islam  means  submission — the  submission  of  the  faith- 
ful to  Allah.  This  term,  which  characterizes  better  than 
any  other  the  essence  of  the  relation  in  which  Mohammed 
places  the  believers  to  the  object  of  their  worship,  epito- 
mizes the  feeling  of  dependence  on  an  unlimited  Power 
to  whom  man  must  give  himself  up,  willingly  or  unwill- 
ingly. This  is  the  predominating  principle  inherent  in 
all  expressions  of  this  religion,  in  its  ideas  and  its  forms, 
in  its  morals  and  its  worship,  which  determine,  as  its 
decisive  mark,  the  characteristic  instruction  which  man 
is  to  gain  by  it.  Islam  in  fact,  furnishes  the  strongest 
example  of  Schleiermacher's  theory  that  religion  arises 
from  a  feeling  of  dependence. 

II.  The  task  before  us  in  these  lectures  does  not 
demand  that  we  should  point  out  the  peculiarities  of  this 
system  of  religion,  but  rather  that  we  present  the  factors 
which  have  cooperated  in  its  historical  development. 
Islam,  as  it  appears  in  its  final  shaping,  is  the  result  of 
various  influences  by  means  of  which  it  has  developed 
into  an  ethical  view  of  life,  into  a  legal  and  dogmatic 
system  attaining  a  definite  orthodox  form.  We  have  to 
deal  also  with  the  factors  which  have  directed  the  stream 
of  Islam  into  various  channels.  For  Islam  is  no  homo- 
geneous church,  its  historical  life  finds  its  full  expression 
in  the  very  diversities  which  it  has  itself  produced. 

The  forces  which  determine  the  historical  life  of  an 
institution  are  twofold.  First,  the  inner  impulses  spring- 
ing from  the  very  being  of  the  institution  and  acting  as 
impelling  forces  to  further  its  growth.  Second,  those 
intellectual  influences  which  come  from  without,  which 
enrich  the  range  of  ideas,  and  make  them  more  fruitful 
in  bringing  about  its  historical  development.  Although 
in  Islam  the  practical  proof  of  the  impulses  of  the  first 
kind  are  not  lacking,  nevertheless  it  is  mostly  the  assimi- 
lation of  foreign  influences  which  mark  the  most  impor- 
tant moments  of  its  history.    Its  dogmatic  development 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  3 

betrays  Hellenistic  thouglit,  its  legal  form  shows  the 
unmistakable  influence  of  Roman  Law,  its  civic  organi- 
zation, as  it  is  unfolded  in  the  ^  Abbaside  caliphate,  shows 
the  moulding  of  Persian  civic  ideas,  while  its  mysticism 
illustrates  the  appropriation  of  Neoplatonic  and  Indian 
ways  of  thought.  But  in  each  one  of  these  fields  Islam 
proves  its  capability  to  assimilate  and  work  over  foreign 
elements,  so  that  its  foreign  character  is  evident  only 
through  the  sharp  analysis  of  critical  investigation.  This 
receptive  character  stamps  Islam  from  its  very  birth,  j 
Its  founder,  Mohammed,  proclaims  no  new  ideas.  He 
brought  no  new  contribution  to  the  thoughts  concerning' 
the  relation  of  man  to  the  supernatural  and  infinite. 
This  fact,  however,  does  not  in  the  least  lessen  the  rela- 
tive worth  of  his  religious  conception.  When  the  his- 
torian of  morals  wishes  to  decide  on  the  effect  of  an 
historical  event,  the  question  of  its  originality  is  not 
uppermost  in  his  consideration.  In  an  historical  esti- 
mate of  the  ethical  system  of  Mohammed  the  question 
is  not  whether  the  content  of  his  proclamation  was 
original  in  every  way,  the  absolute  pioneer  conception 
of  his  soul.  The  proclamation  of  the  Arabian  Prophet 
is  an  eclectic^  composition  of  religious  views  to  which 
he  was  aroused  through  his  contact  with  Jewish,  Chris- 
tian and  other^  elements,  by  which  he  himself  was 
strongly  moved  and  which  he  regarded  as  suitable  for 
the  awakening  of  an  earnest  religious  disposition  among 
his  people.  His  ordinances,  although  taken  from  foreign 
sources,  he  recognized  as  necessary  for  the  moulding 
of  life  in  accordance  with  the  divine  will.  His  inmost  soul 
was  so  aroused  that  those  influences  which  had  thus 
awakened  him,  became  inspirations,  that  were  confirmed 
by  outward  impressions  and  by  divine  revelations,  of 
which  he  sincerely  felt  himself  to  be  the  instrument. 

It  lies   outside   our  task  to  follow  the  pathological 
moments  which  aroused  and  strengthened  in  him  the 


4  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

consciousness  of  revelation.  "We  recall  Harnack's  sig- 
nificant words  concerning  ^^  Maladies  which  attack  great 
men  only,  who  in  turn  create  out  of  this  malady  a  new 
life,  an  energy  hitherto  unsuspected  surmounting  all 
barriers,  and  the  zeal  of  prophets  and  apostles. '  '^  Before 
us  stands  the  prodigious  historical  effect  of  the  call  to 
Islam,  more  particularly  the  effect  on  the  immediate 
circle,  to  whom  Mohammed's  proclamations  were  directly 
given.  The  lack  of  originality  was  made  up  for  by  the 
fact  that  Mohammed,  with  unwearied  perseverance, 
announced  these  teachings  as  representing  the  \i.tal  inter- 
ests of  the  community.  With  solicitous  tenacity  he 
proclaimed  them  to  the  masses  in  spite  of  their  arrogant 
scorn.  For  no  historical  effect  was  connected  with  the 
silent  protest  of  pious  men  before  Mohammed's  time, 
men  who  had  protested,  more  by  their  lives  than  by  their 
words,  against  the  heathen  Arabian  interpretation  of 
life.  We  do  not  know  just  what  a  certain  Klialid  ibn 
Sinan  meant  when  he  spoke  of  the  prophet  who  let  his 
people  go  astray.  Mohammed  is  the  first  effective  his- 
torical reformer  of  Arabia.  Therein  lies  his  originality 
in  spite  of  the  lack  of  it  in  the  subject  matter  of  his 
teaching.  The  intercourse  which  the  travels  of  his  early 
life  secured  for  him,  and  the  fruits  of  which  he  garnered 
during  the  period  of  ascetic  retirement,  aroused  the  over- 
wrought conscience  of  an  earnest  man  against  the  reli- 
gious and  ethical  character  of  his  countrymen.  Arabian 
polytheism,  gross  and  bare  as  it  was,  and  which  for  its 
fetishlike  worship,  had  as  its  gathering  place  the  national 
sanctuary, — the  Ka'ba  with  its  black  stone — in  Moham- 
med's home  town,  could  not  elevate  the  morals  of  a 
people  imbued  with  tribal  life  and  customs.  Further- 
more, the  natives  of  this  town  were  marked  by  a  pre- 
vailing materialistic,  plutocratic  and  haughty  attitude. 
For  the  care  of  the  sanctuary  was  not  only  a  religious 
privilege,   but   also    an   important    source    of   revenue. 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  5 

Mohammed  bemoans  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  the 
thirst  for  gain,  dishonesty  in  commerce,  and  overbear- 
ing indifference  toward  the  higher  interest  of  human 
life  and  its  duties  toward  the  ^^  prayerful  and  pious 
ones''  (Sura  18,  v.  44), — the  ^^ tinsel  of  its  mundane 
world."  The  impressions  of  former  teachings  remained 
active  in  him,  and  he  now  applied  them  to  these  dis- 
quieting observations.  In  the  loneliness  of  the  caves 
near  the  city  whither  he  was  wont  to  withdraw,  the  man 
of  two-score  years  felt  himself  more  and  more  impelled 
through  vivid  dreams,  visions  and  hallucinations  to  go 
among  his  people,  and  to  warn  them  of  the  destruction 
to  which  their  actions  were  leading  them.  He  feels 
himself  irresistably  forced  to  become  the  moral  teacher 
of  his  people,  *' their  warner  and  messenger.'' 

III.  At  the  beginning  of  his  career  these  observations 
turned  to  eschatological  representations,  which  more  and 
more  completely  took  possession  of  his  inmost  soul. 
They  form,  as  it  were,  the  ^^Idee  mere"  of  his  procla- 
mations. What  he  had  heard  of  a  future  judgment  which 
would  overwhelm  the  world,  he  now  applies  to  the  con- 
ditions about  him,  the  knowledge  of  which  filled  his 
soul  with  horror.  He  places  before  the  careless,  over- 
weening tribes  of  the  proud  Meccan  plutocrats,  who 
know  nothing  of  humility,  ^Hhe  prophecy  of  the 
approaching  judgment,"  which  he  paints  in  fiery  colors. 
He  tells  them  of  the  resurrection  and  of  the  future 
reckoning  whose  details  present  themselves  to  his  wild 
vision  in  terrifying  form ;  of  God,  as  judge  of  the  world, 
as  the  sole  arbiter  of  the  *^Day  of  judgment,"  who,  in 
mercy,  gathers  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  world  the  few 
who  had  been  obedient,  who  had  not  scorned  and  derided 
the  cry  of  the  ^'Warner,"  but  who  by  introspection  had 
torn  themselves  from  arrogant  ambitions  and  the  power 
secured  by  worldly  wealth,  and  had  given  themselves  to 
a  realization  of  their  dependence  on  the  one  absolute 


6  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

God  of  the  universe.  It  is  above  all  escliatological  repre- 
sentation on  which  Mohammed  founded  the  call  to 
repentance  and  submission.^  And  one  result — not  the 
cause — of  this  perception,  is  the  rejection  of  the  poly- 
theism, by  means  of  which  paganism  had  broken  the 
absolute  power  of  deity.  Any  characteristic  predicated 
of  Allah  can  ^^  neither  help  nor  harm.'^  There  is  only 
one  Lord  of  the  judgment  day.  Nothing  can  be  asso- 
ciated with  his  unlimited  and  unchangeable  decree.  A 
feeling  of  such  absolute  dependence  as  that  which  pos- 
sessed Mohammed  could  have  as  its  object  one  being 
only,  the  only  one  Allah.  But  the  terrible  picture  of  the 
judgment,  the  features  of  which  he  had  gathered  largely 
from  the  literature  of  the  Apocrypha,  was  not  balanced 
by  the  hopes  of  the  coming  of  the  ^'Kingdom  of  Heaven.'' 
'Mohammed  is  a  messenger  of  the  Dies  Irae,  of  the 
destruction  of  the  world.  His  eschatology,  in  its  picture 
of  the  world,  cultivates  only  the  pessimistic  aspect.  The 
optimistic  aspect  is  entirely  transferred  to  paradise,  for 
the  chosen.  He  has  no  ray  of  hope  left  over  for  the 
mundane  world.  It  is  thus  simply  a  system  of  borrowed 
building  stones  which  serves  the  prophet  in  the  con- 
struction of  his  escliatological  message.  The  history  of 
the  Old  Testament,  mostly,  it  is  true,  in  the  sense  of  the 
Agada,  is  used  as  a  warning  example  of  the  fate  of 
ancient  peoples,  who,  hardening  their  hearts,  scorned  the 
exhortations  sent  to  them.  Mohammed  classes  himself 
as  the  last  of  the  ancient  prophets.  The  picture  of  the 
judgment  and  destruction  of  the  world  painted  in  glow- 
ing colors,  the  exhortation  to  prepare  for  it,  by  for- 
saking ungodliness  and  the  worldly  life,  tales  of  the  fate 
of  ancient  peoples  and  their  attitude  toward  the  prophets 
sent  to  them,  reference  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  and 
to  the  wonderful  formation  of  man, — proof  of  the  power 
of  God, — dependence  of  the  creature  whom  he  can 
annihilate  and  recreate  according  to  his  inclination, — all 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  7 

these  are  contained  in  the  oldest  parts  of  that  book  of 
revelations,  recognized  in  the  literature  of  the  world 
as  the  Kgran.  It  is  composed  of  about  114  divisions 
(Suras),  of  very  different  scope ;  about  one  third  belongs 
to  the  first  ten  years  of  Mohammed's  prophetic  activity 
during  the  time  of  his  work  in  Mecca. 

IV.  It  lies  outside  of  my  province  to  recount  here  the 
story  of  his  success  and  his  failures.  The  year  622  marks 
the  first  epoch  in  the  history  of  Islam.  Ridiculed  by  his 
countrymen  and  tribesmen,  Mohammed  flees  to  the 
northern  city  of  Yathrib,  whose  people  coming  from  a 
southern  stock,  showed  themselves  more  receptive  to 
religious  influences.  Here  also,  owing  to  the  large  colony 
of  Jews,  the  ideas  which  Mohammed  advanced  were  more 
familiar,  or  at  least  appeared  less  strange.  Because 
of  the  help  which  people  of  this  town  gave  to  the  prophet 
and  his  followers,  whom  they  sheltered,  Yathrib  became 
Medina,  ^'the  City''  (of  the  prophet),  by  which  name 
it  has  ever  since  been  known.  Here  Mohammed  is  still 
further  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  majority 
of  the  Suras  of  the  Koran  bear  the  mark  of  this  new 
home.  But  even  though,  in  his  new  relations,  he  does 
not  cease  to  fulfill  and  practice  his  calling  as  a  ^^warner," 
his  message  takes  a  new  direction.  It  is  no  longer  merely 
the  eschatological  visionary  who  speaks.  The  new  rela- 
tions make  him  a  warrior,  a  conqueror,  a  statesman, 
an  organizer  of  the  new  and  constantly  growing  com- 
munity. Islam,  as  an  institution,  here  received  its 
shape ;  here  were  sown  the  first  seeds  of  its  social,  legal, 
and  political  regulations. 

The  revelations  which  Mohammed  announced  on  Mec- 
can  soil  had,  as  yet,  indicated  no  new  religion.  Reli- 
gious feelings  were  aroused  in  a  small  group  only.  A 
conception  of  the  world  marked  by  the  idea  of  resigna- 
tion to  God  was  fostered,  but  was,  as  yet,  far  removed 
from  strict  definition,  and  had  not  yet  given  rise  clearly 


8  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

to  teachings  and  forms.  Pious  feelings  betrayed  them- 
selves in  ascetic  acts,  which  we  also  find  among  Jews 
and  Christians,  in  devotional  acts  (recitation  with  genu- 
flections and  prostration),  self-imposed  abstinence,  and 
deeds  of  kindness,  whose  modality  as  to  form,  time  and 
amount,  had  not  yet  been  determined  by  hard  and  fast 
rules.  Finally  the  community  of  believers  was  not  yet 
definitely  formed.  It  was  in  Medina  that  Islam  took 
shape  as  an  institution,  and  at  the  same  time  as  a  fight- 
ing organization  whose  war  trumpet  sounds  through  the 
whole  later  history  of  Islam.  The  erstwhile  devoted 
martyr,  who  had  preached  patient  submission  to  his 
faithful  Meccan  followers  scorned  by  their  fellow  citi- 
zens, is  now  organizing  warlike  undertakings.  The  man 
who  despised  worldly  possessions  is  now  taking  in  hand 
the  disposition  of  booty  and  regulation  of  the  laws  of 
inheritance  and  of  property.  It  is  true  he  does  not 
cease  to  proclaim  the  worthlessness  of  all  worldly  things. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  laws  are  given,  regulations 
are  made  for  religious  practices  and  the  closest  social 
relationships  of  life.  ^^Here  the  laws  of  conduct  take 
on  definite  form.  These  laws  served  as  the  basis  of  later 
legislation,  although  several,  in  the  course  of  preparation 
during  the  Meccan  teachings,  had  been  carried  in  embryo 
by  the  exiles  from  Mecca  to  the  Palm  City  of  Arabia. '  '^ 

It  was  really  in  Medina  that  Islam  was  born.  The  true 
features  of  its  historical  life  were  formed  here.  When- 
ever, therefore,  the  need  of  religious  reconstruction 
appeared  in  Islam,  its  followers  appealed  to  the  Sunna 
(traditional  custom)  of  that  Medina  in  which  Mohammed 
and  his  companions  first  began  to  bring  into  concrete 
form  the  laws  regulating  the  relations  of  life,  according 
to  his  conceptions  of  Islam.  We  will  return  to  this  later. 
:>  The  Hijra  (flight  to  Medina)  accordingly  is  not  only 
an  important  date  in  the  history  of  Islam,  because  of 
the  change  it  wrought  in  the  outward  fortunes  of  the 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  9 

community ;  marks,  not  only  the  time  in  which  the  little 
group  of  the  prophet's  followers,  having  found  a  secure 
haven,  began  to  take  aggressive  measures  and  wage  a 
war  against  the  enemy,  which  in  630  resulted  in  the 
conquest  of  Mecca  and  subsequently  in  the  subjection 
of  Arabia;  but  it  also  marks  an  epoch  in  the  religious 
formation  of  Islam. 

The  Medina  period  brings  about,  moreover,  a  radical 
change  in  Mohammed's  apperception  of  his  own  char- 
acter. In  Mecca  Mohammed  felt  himself  a  prophet,  and 
classed  himself  and  his  mission  in  the  rank  of  the  Biblical 
^* Messengers,"  in  order  like  them  to  warn  and  to  save 
his  fellow-men  from  destruction.  In  Medina,  under 
changed  external  relations,  his  aims  also  take  a  different 
trend.  In  this  environment,  differing  so  greatly  from 
that  of  Mecca,  other  views  in  regard  to  his  calling  as  a 
prophet  became  prominent.  He  wishes  now  to  be  con- 
sidered as  having  come  to  restore  and  reestablish  the 
vitiated  and  misrepresented  religion  of  Abraham.  His 
announcements  are  interwoven  with  Abrahamic  tradi- 
tions. He  asserts  that  the  worship  he  is  instituting, 
although  formerly  organized  by  Abraham,  had  in  the 
course  of  time  been  vitiated  and  heathenized.  He  wishes 
to  reinstate  in  the  Abrahamic  sense  the  dm,  or  religion  of 
the  one  God,  as  he  had  come,  above  all,  to  legitimatize 
(musaddik)  what  God  had  made  known  in  former 
revelations.^ 

In  general,  his  contention,  that  the  former  messages 
were  misrepresented  and  vitiated,  played  a  greater  part 
in  the  recognition  of  his  own  position  as  a  prophet,  and 
of  his  work.  Fawning  apostates  strengthened  him  in  the 
idea  that  adherents  of  the  old  religion  had  perverted 
the  sacred  writings,  and  had  concealed  the  promises 
in  which  prophets  and  evangelists  had  announced  his  own 
future  coming.  This  charge,  originating  in  the  Koran, 
was  later  extensively  developed  in  Islamic  literature. 


10  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

The  polemic  against  Jews  and  Christians  now  forms  an 
important  part  of  the  revelations  of  Medina.  Although 
formerly  he  recognized  cloisters,  churches  and  syna- 
gogues as  true  places  of  worship  (Sura  22,  v.  211),  the 
ruhbcin  (monks)  of  the  Christians  and  the  ahhdr 
(scribes)  of  the  Jews,  who  were  actually  his  teachers, 
now  became  objects  of  attack.  It  does  not  suit  him  that 
these  leaders,  in  reality  merely  selfish  men,  should  exer- 
cise an  entirely  unwarranted,  and  in  fact  almost  a  di\dne 
authority,  over  their  fellows  (Sura  9,  v.  31),  leading  the 
people  astray  from  the  way  of  God  (Sura  9,  v.  36).  He 
gives  the  ascetic  ruhban  credit  for  their  humble  bearing, 
and  regards  them  as  being  in  closer  sympathy  with^he 
faithful  than  the  Jews,  who  took  a  decisive  stand  against 
Islam  (Sura  5,  v.  85),  and  he  reproaches  the  Scribes  with 
additions  they  had  made  to  the  divine  legislation  (Sura 
3,v.  72). 

V.  This  Medina  decade  was  therefore  a  time  of  attack 
with  sword  and  pen,  as  well  as  of  defense.  The  change 
in  Mohammed's  prophetic  character  necessarily  made 
itself  felt  in  the  style  and  rhetorical  content  of  the  Koran. 

Even  the  oldest  records  of  the  book  have  clearly  dif- 
ferentiated between  the  two  divisions  of  the  114  Suras 
into  which  its  contents  are  divided — ditferentiating  with 
sure  instinct  the  Mecca  from  the  Medina  parts. 

This  chronological  difference  wholly  justifies  the  criti- 
cal and  aesthetic  consideration  of  the  Koran.  To  the 
Mecca  period  belong  the  messages  in  which  Mohammed 
presents  the  creations  of  his  glowing  enthusiasm  in  a 
fantastic  oratorical  form  coming  directly  from  his  soul. 
He  does  not  brandish  his  sword,  he  is  not  speaking  to 
warriors  and  subjects,  but  is  declaring  rather,  to  his 
numerous  adversaries  the  convictions  which  dominate  his 
soul;  that  the  power  of  Allah  to  create  and  rule  the 
world  is  infinite;  that  the  awful  day  of  judgment  and 
destruction,  the  vision  of  which  destroys  his  peace  of 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  11 

mind,  is  near  at  hand;    that  the  former  peoples  and' 
tyrants  who  opposed  the  warners  sent  by  God,  should 
be  punished. 

Gradually,  however,  the  prophetic  energy  weakens  in 
the  Medina  messages  in  which  the  rhetoric,  having  lost 
all  vigor,  because  of  the  triviality  of  the  object,  had 
dropped  to  a  lower  plain  and  sunk  to  the  level  of  com- 
mon prose.  With  clever  calculations  and  consideration, 
with  wary  cunning  and  policy,  he  now  agitates  against 
the  internal  and  external  opponents  of  his  aims,  he 
organizes  the  faithful,  enacts,  as  has  already  been  pointed 
out,  civic  and  religious  laws  for  the  developing  organi- 
zation, as  well  as  rules  for  the  practical  relations  of  life. 
He  even  at  times  includes  in  the  divine  revelations  made 
to  him  his  own  unimportant  personal  and  domestic 
aifairs.^  The  diminishing  of  his  rhetorical  vigor  is  not 
offset  even  by  the  Saj' , — the  rhymed  prose  characteristic 
of  the  Koran  in  general  and  occurring  also  in  the  suras 
of  this  period.  This  was  the  form  in  which  the  ancient 
soothsayers  delivered  their  oracles.  No  Arab  could 
have  recognized  them  in  any  other  form  as  the  words  of 
God.  Mohannned,  to  the  end,  adhered  to  the  claim  that 
such  was  his  speech,  but  how  great  a  distance  between 
the  Saj*  of  the  early  Mecca  and  the  Medina  speeches! 
While  in  Mecca,  he  announces  his  visions  in  Saj^  lines, 
every  one  of  which  responds  to  the  feverish  beating  of 
his  heart.  This  form  of  revelation  loses  its  swing  and 
its  strength  in  Medina,  even  when  he  turns  back  to  the 
subjects  of  the  Mecca  messages.^ 

Mohammed  himself  declared  his  Koran  an  inimitable 
work.  His  followers,  without  considering  any  one  of 
its  parts  as  having  more  merit  than  another,  regarded 
the  book  as  divinely  supernatural,  sent  to  them  through 
the  prophet.  In  fact  it  was  to  them  the  supreme  miracle 
by  which  the  prophet  established  the  truth  of  his  divine 
mission. 


/ 


12  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

VI.  The  Koran  then,  is  the  first  basis  of  the  religion 
of  Islam,  its  sacred  writing,  its  revealed  document.  In 
its  entirety  it  represents  a  combination  of  the  two  first 
epochs  in  the  infancy  of  Islam,  differing  so  much  from 
one  another. 

Although  the  Arabian  mind,  owing  to  its  inherent  dis- 
position and  to  the  conditions  of  life,  was  not  given  to 
the  consideration  of  supernatural  things,  the  great  suc- 
cess of  the  prophet  and  his  immediate  followers  over  the 
opponents  of  Islam  did  much  to  strengthen  the  belief 
of  the  Arabs  in  his  mission.  Although  these  historical 
successes  did  not,  as  one  is  apt  to  think,  directly  result 
in  the  complete  union  of  these  Arab  tribes,  politically 
divided  and  religiously  only  loosely  bound  by  any  central 
authority,  and  constantly  quarreling  over  their  local 
cults,  nevertheless,  they  did  become  a  strong  element 
of  union  between  these  divergent  elements.  The  prophet 
had  held  up  as  the  ideal  the  union  into  an  ethical  and 
religious  community  which,  according  to  his  teachings, 
should  be  bound  together  by  the  feeling  of  dependence 
on  the  one  Allah.  ^'0,  ye  believers,  fear  God  as  he 
deserveth  to  be  feared ;  and  die  not  until  ye  have  become 
Moslems.  And  hold  ye  fast  by  the  cord  of  God  and 
remember  God's  goodness  towards  you,  how  that  when 
ye  were  enemies,  he  united  your  hearts  and  by  his  favor 
ye  became  brethren"  (Sura  3,  v.  97-98).  Fear  of  God 
was  now  to  have  the  preference  over  genealogy  and  tribal 
life.  The  conception  of  this  unity  broadened  more  and 
more  after  the  death  of  the  prophet,  owing  to  the  con- 
quests whose  successes  have  not  yet  been  equalled  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 

VII.  If  anything  in  Mohaimned's  religious  production 
can  be  called  original,  it  is  the  negative  side  of  his  revela- 
tions. They  were  intended  to  eliminate  all  the  barbarities 
of  Arabian  paganism  in  worship  and  social  intercourse, 
in  tribal  life  and  in  their  conceptions  of  the  world;    in 


/ 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  13 

other  words,  they  were  to  eliminate  the  jahiliyya,  the 
pre-Islamic  barbarity,  in  so  far  as  it  stamped  these  con- 
ceptions and  customs  as  opposed  to  Islam.  As  we  have 
already  mentioned,  the  positive  teaching  and  organiza- 
tions show  an  eclectic  character.  Judaism  and  Chris- 
tianity have  an  equal  share  in  the  elements  of  which  these 
are  composed,  of  whose  peculiarities  I  cannot  speak 
here.^ 

It  is  well  known  that  in  its  final  form  Islam  has  fiYQ 
points  upon  which  its  confession  is  based.  The  first 
drafts  (liturgical  and  humanitarian)  go  back  to  the 
Mecca  period,  but  their  more  definite,  formal  shape  was 
given  in  the  Medina  period.  1.  The  acknowledgment 
of  one  God  and  the  recognition  of  Mohammed  as  the 
apostle  of  God;  2.  The  ritual  of  the  divine  worship, 
whose  early  beginnings  as  vigils  and  recitations,  with 
their  accompanying  postures,  genuflections  and  prostra- 
tions, as  well  as  the  ceremonial  purifications,  had  its 
origin  in  the  usages  of  oriental  Christianity;  3.  Alms, 
first  a  free-will  offering,  later  a  definitely  determined 
contribution  to  the  needs  of  the  community;  4.  Fast- 
ing— first  on  the  10th  day  of  the  month  (an  imitation 
of  the  Jewish  Day  of  atonement  {' dsliura) — later 
changed  to  the  month  of  Eamadan,  the  9th  of  the  variable 
lunar  year;  5.  The  pilgrimage  to  the  old  Arabian 
national  sanctuary  in  Mecca,  the  Ka^ba,  the  ^^ house  of 
God. '  '^  This  last  requirement  Mohammed  retained  from 
paganism,  but  clothed  it  in  monotheistic  garb,  and  gave 
it  new  interpretations  through  Abrahamic  legends. 

Just  as  the  Christian  elements  of  the  Koran  reached 
Mohammed  largely  through  the  apocryphal  traditions 
and  heresies  disseminated  throughout  oriental  Chris- 
tendom, similarly  many  of  the  elements  of  oriental 
gnosticism  found  an  entrance  into  Islamism.  Moham- 
med appropriated  a  medley  of  ideas  that  reached  him 
through  his  casual  contact  with  men  during  his  mer- 


14  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

cantile  travels,  and  utilized  most  of  this  material  in  a 
very  unsystematic  manner.  How  far  removed  from  his 
original  conception  are  the  mystical  words  (Sura  24,  v. 
35)  which  the  Moslems  regard  as  their  ^^ golden  text!'^ 
In  Mohammed's  conception  concerning  the  laws  given 
by  God  to  the  Jews,  especially  those  dealing  with  for- 
bidden foods,  laid  on  them  as  a  punishment  for  their 
disobedience,  we  see  the  influence  of  the  depreciation 
by  the  Gnostics  of  the  Old  Testament  laws  promulgated, 
according  to  them,  by  a  frowning  God  void  of  benevo- 
lence. Except  in  a  very  few  cases  these  laws  were 
abrogated  by  Islam.  God  had  not  forbidden  to  the  faith- 
ful anything  palatable.  These  laws  were  fetters  and 
burdens  laid  upon  the  Israelites  by  God  (Sura  2,  v.  286; 
4,  V.  158;  7,  v.  156).  This,  although  not  identical  with 
Marcionistic  theories,  is  in  accord  with  them.  Together 
with  this  and  closely  akin  to  the  speculations  which  are 
crudely  indicated  in  the  Clementine  homilies,  we  find 
the  theory  put  forward  of  a  pure  ancient  religion,  to  be 
restored  by  the  prophet,  and  also  the  assumption  that  the 
sacred  writings  had  been  corrupted. 

Besides  Jews  and  Christians,  the  Parsees,  whose 
disciples  came  under  Mohammed's  observation  as  Ma  jus 
(Magi)  and  whom  he  also  regards  as  opposed  to  heathen- 
ism, left  their  impress  on  the  receptive  mind  of  the 
Arabian  prophet.  It  was  from  the  Parsees  that  he 
received  the  far-reaching  suggestion  which  robs  the 
Sabbath  of  its  character  as  a  day  of  rest.  He  chose 
Friday  as  the  weeldy  day  of  assembly,  but  even  in  adopt- 
ing the  hexaemeron  theory  of  creation,  he  emphatically 
rejects  the  idea  that  God  rested  on  the  7th  day.  There- 
fore, not  the  7th  day,  but  the  day  preceding  is  taken, 
not  as  a  day  of  rest,  but  as  a  day  of  assembly  on  which 
all  worldly  business  is  permitted  after  the  close  of 
worship.* 

VIII.     If  we  are  now  to  regard  Mohammed's  produc- 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  15 

tion  as  a  whole,  and  to  consider  for  a  moment  its  intrinsic 
value  judged  from  its  ethical  effect,  we  must  of  course 
be  careful  to  avoid  an  apologetic  and  polemic  attitude. 
Even  in  modern  presentations  of  Islam  there  is  a  strong 
tendency  to  take  its  numbers  as  the  absolute  standard 
by  which  to  judge  its  religious  value,  and  to  found  on 
that  the  final  estimate.  The  same  tendency  considers 
the  idea  of  God  as  deeply  rooted  in  Islam  because  it 
inflexibly  excludes  the  thought  of  His  immanence.  It 
also  considers  its  ethics  dangerous  because  it  is  dom- 
inated by  the  principle  of  obedience  and  submission 
which  is  already  apparent  in  its  name.  This  attitude 
assumes  as  possible  that  the  dominating  belief  of  the 
faithful,  of  living  under  an  absolute  divine  law,  or  the 
belief  in  the  detachment  of  the  Divine  being  in  Islam 
hindered  the  approach  to  God  by  faith,  virtue,  and  benev- 
olence, and  kept  one  from  His  mercy  (Sura  9,  v.  100),  as 
though  a  pious  worshipper,  fervent  in  his  devotions, 
filled  with  the  humble  consciousness  of  his  dependence, 
weakness  and  helplessness,  raising  his  soul  to  the  source 
of  almighty  strength  and  perfection,  could  differentiate 
himself  according  to  philosophical  formulae.  Those, 
who  would  in  a  subjective  spirit  estimate  the  religion 
of  others,  should  recall  the  words  of  Abbe  Loisy,  the 
theologian  (1906) :  *^One  can  say  of  all  religions  that 
they  possess  for  the  consciences  of  its  adherents  an 
absolute,  and  for  the  comprehension  of  the  philosopher 
and  critic,  a  relative  value. ''^  This  fact  has  generally 
been  lost  sight  of  in  judging  the  effect  of  Islam  on  its 
followers.  Furthermore,  in  the  case  of  Islam  the  religion 
has  been  unjustly  held  responsible  for  moral  deficiencies, 
and  intellectual  lacks  which  may  have  their  origin  in  the 
.  disposition  of  the  races.^  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Islam,  dis- 
seminated among  a  people  belonging  to  these  races,  has 
'  moderated  rather  than  caused  their  crudeness.  Besides, 
Islam  is  not  an  abstraction  to  be  considered  apart  from 


ri!i;— •_::  • ._.    _  ■  ..;,  :.  ->.' . .:- %r :;:-'-■■•-:•■.-•  ^""^■•"^^^^r^l^S^i 


^^.SSfBWfflWBBgCSBSaaKB^ 


16  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

its  historical  periods  of  development,  or  from  the  geo- 
graphical boundaries  of  its  spread,  or  from  the  ethnic 
character  of  its  followers,  but  in  connection  with  its 
various  embodiments  and  effects. 

In  order  to  prove  Islam's  insignificant  religious  and 
moral  value,  men  have  appealed  to  the  language  in  which 
its  teachings  were  given.  It  has  been  said,  e.  g.,  that 
Islam  lacks  the  ethical  conception  which  we  call  con- 
science, and  the  attempt  is  made  to  prove  this  by  the 
assertion  that  ^^  neither  in  Arabic  itself  nor  in  any  other 
language  used  by  the  Mohammedans  can  a  word  be 
found  which  would  correctly  express  what  we  mean  by 
the  word  conscience.''^  Such  conclusions  could  easily 
lead  us  astray  in  other  lines.  The  assumption  that  a 
word  alone  can  be  taken  as  a  credible  proof  of  the 
existence  of  a  conception,  has  sho\vn  itself  to  be  a 
prejudice.  ''A  lack  in  the  language  is  not  necessarily 
a  sign  of  a  lack  in  the  heart."*  If  this  were  so,  one 
could  assert  that  the  feeling  of  gratitude  was  unkno\vn 
to  the  poets  of  the  Vedas,  because  the  word  ^ thanks" 
is  foreign  to  the  Vedic  language.^  Even  in  the  ninth 
century  the  Arabic  scholar  Jahiz  disproves  the  remark 
of  a  dilettante  friend  who  thought  he  found  a  proof 
of  the  avaricious  character  of  the  Greeks  in  the  fact 
that  their  language  apparently  had  no  word  for  *  liber- 
ality" (Jud).  Others  also  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  lack  of  the  word  ^^ sincerity"  (nasiha)  in 
Persian,  was  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  inbred  untrust- 
worthiness  of  this  people.^ 

Didactic  sentences,  principles  mirroring  ethical  con- 
ceptions, should  be  tested  by  more  than  a  word,  a 
terminus  technicus,  such  as  those  which  are  used  in  the 
consideration  of  the  ''question  of  conscience"  in  Islam. 
Among  the  forty  (really  forty-two)  traditions  of  the 
Nawawl,  supposed  to  present  a  compendium  of  the  reli- 
gious principles  of  a  true  Moslem,  we  find  as  No.  27, 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  17 

the  following  quotation,  which  is  taken  from  the  best 
collections:  ''In  the  name  of  the  prophet,  virtue  is  the 
essence  of  good  qualities ;  sin  is  that  which  troubles  the 
soul,  and  thou  dost  not  wish  that  other  people  should 
know  it  of  thee.''  Wabisa  ibn  Ma' bad  says:  "Once  I 
came  before  the  prophet.  He  divined  that  I  had  come 
to  question  him  as  to  the  nature  of  virtue.  He  said: 
'Question  thine  heart  (literally  demand  a  fetwa,  a  deci- 
sion of  thine  heart) ;  virtue  is  that  which  pacifies  the 
soul,  and  pacifies  the  heart;  sin  is  that  which  produces 
unrest  in  the  soul  and  turmoil  in  the  bosom,  whatever 
meaning  men  may  have  given  to  it!'  *Lay  thine  hand 
upon  thy  bosom,  and  ask  thine  heart;  from  that  which 
causes  thine  heart  unrest,  thou  shouldst  forbear.'  "  And 
the  same  teachings  gave  the  Moslem  tradition  according 
to  which  Adam  ended  his  exhortation  to  his  children 
just  before  his  death  with  the  words  .  .  .  "As  I 
approached  the  forbidden  tree,  I  felt  unrest  in  my 
heart,"  in  other  words,  my  conscience  troubled  me. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  deny  that  a  power  working  for 
good  lives  in  the  teaching  of  Islam,  that  life  from  the 
standpoint  of  Islam  can  be  ethically  blameless ;  or  that 
it  calls  for  mercy  towards  all  the  creatures  of  God, 
business  integrity,  love,  faithfulness,  self-restraint,  all 
those  virtues  which  Islam  borrowed  from  the  religions 
whose  prophets  it  recognized  as  its  teachers.  A  true 
Moslem  will  exemplify  a  life  which  conforms  to  strict 
ethical  requirements. 

Islam  is  indeed  a  law,  and  demands  ceremonial  acts 
also  from  its  adherents.  Already  in  its  earliest  docu- 
ment— the  Koran — and  not  only  in  the  traditional  teach- 
ings which  indicate  the  development  of  Islam,  do  we  find 
the  feelings  which  accompany  a  deed  described  as  the 
standard  of  its  religious  merit,  and  it  is  in  the  Koran 
also  that  legalism,  unaccompanied  by  deeds  of  mercy 
and  charity,  is  held  of  very  little  value. 


18  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

^' There  is  no  piety  in  turning  yonr  faces  toward  the 
east  or  the  west,  but  he  is  pious  who  believeth  in  God, 
and  the  last  day,  and  the  angels,  and  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  prophets;  who  for  the  love  of  God  disburseth  his 
wealth  to  his  kindred,  and  to  the  orphans,  and  the  needy, 
and  the  wayfarer  and  those  who  ask,  and  for  ransoming ; 
who  observeth  prayer,  and  payeth  the  legal  alms,  and 
who  is  of  those  who  are  faithful  to  their  engagements 
when  they  have  engaged  them,  and  patient  under  ills 
and  hardships,  and  in  time  of  trouble;  these  are  they 
who  are  just,  and  these  are  they  who  fear  the  Lord" 
(Sura  2,  v.  172).  And  in  speaking  of  the  rites  of  the 
pilgrimage,  which  he  decrees  (or  rather  retained  from 
the  traditions  of  Arabian  paganism)  on  the  ground 
that  ^Sve  have  imposed  sacrificial  rites  on  all  people, 
so  that  they  may  commemorate  the  name  of  God  over 
the  brute  beasts  which  he  hath  provided  for  them,'' 
Mohammed  lays  the  greatest  emphasis  on  the  pious 
frame  of  mind  which  should  accompany  the  act  of  wor- 
ship. ^^By  no  means  can  their  flesh  reach  God,  neither 
their  blood;  but  piety  on  your  jDart  reacheth  him''  (Sura 
22,  V.  35,  38).  The  greatest  importance  is  iDlaced  on  the 
IkJilds^  (unclouded  purity)  of  the  heart  (Sura  40,  v.  14) 
takwd  al-'kuluby  ^^the  piety  of  the  heart"  (Sura  22,  v. 
23),  halh  sallm  ^^a  perfect  heart"  which  accords  with 
the  lebli  slidlem  of  the  Psalmist ;  standpoints  which  take 
into  consideration  the  religious  merit  of  the  true  believer. 
These  convictions  are  carried  still  further,  as  we  shall 
soon  see,  in  the  traditions,  and  spread  over  the  whole 
field  of  religious  life  in  the  teachings  concerning  the 
significance  of  niyya, — the  conviction  that  the  purpose 
underlying  all  acts  is  the  measure  of  religious  deeds. 
The  shadow  of  an  egotistical  or  hypocritical  motive, 
according  to  this  precept,  deprives  every  bonum  opus 
of  its  worth.  It  will,  therefore,  not  be  possible  for  any  1 
impartial  judge  to  approve  Tisdall's  utterance :    ^^It  will 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  19 

be  evident,  that  purity  of  heart  is  neither  considered 
necessary  nor  desirable ;  in  fact,  it  would  be  hardly  too 
much  to  say,  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  Moslem.'''' 

And  which  is  the  ^^ steep  path"  (perhaps  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  ^  ^  straight  gate, ' '  Matth.  7 :  13,  which 
leads  to  life)  which  the  company  of  the  privileged,  those 
who  are  to  share  the  joys  of  paradise,  follow?  It  is  not 
the  hypocritical  life  almost  entirely  devoted  to  the 
ceremonial — to  the  practices  and  forms  of  outward  wor- 
ship, that  lies  within  this  path,  but  rather  the  life 
devoted  to  good  works.  ^^It  is  to  free  the  captive;  or 
to  feed,  in  a  day  of  famine,  the  orphan  who  is  of  kin, 
or  the  poor  man  who  lieth  on  the  ground.  Whoso  doth 
this,  belongs  to  those  who  believe  and  who  recommend 
perseverance  unto  each  other,  these  shall  be  the  com- 
panions of  the  right  hand"  (Sura  90:12-18 — compare 
with  this  the  verses  of  Isaiah  58:  6-9). 

In  our  next  lecture  we  will  show  that  the  teachings 
of  the  Koran  find  a  further  development  and  supplement 
in  a  great  number  of  traditional  sayings,  which,  even 
though  not  coming  directly  from  the  prophet,  are  never- 
theless indispensable  to  the  characterization  of  the  spirit 
of  Islam.  We  have  already  made  use  of  several  of  them, 
and  since,  in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  this  introduc- 
tory lecture,  we  have  examined  the  ethical  value  of 
historical  Islam,  as  set  forth  in  the  Koran,  it  may  be 
proper  at  this  point  to  point  out  that  the  dogmas  which 
are  given  in  the  Koran  in  primitive  but  clear  enough 
form,  have  developed  in  a  different  way  in  a  great  many 
of  the  later  utterances  ascribed  to  the  prophet. 

To  Abu  Darr  for  example  he  gives  the  following 
instruction:  ^^A  prayer  in  this  mosque  (in  Medina)  is  V 
of  more  value  than  thousands  which  are  made  in  other 
mosques,  with  the  exception  of  that  in  Mecca ;  the  prayer 
made  in  the  latter  is  worth  a  hundred  thousand  times 
more  than  that  which  is  performed  in  other  mosques. 


20  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

But  of  more  value  than  all  these  is  the  prayer  offered 
in  one's  house,  where  one  is  seen  by  Allah  alone,  and 
which  has  no  other  aim  than  to  draw  one  nearer  to 
AUah.''  (Compare  with  this  Matth.  6-6.)  ^^ Shall  I  tell 
you'' — it  is  reported  of  him  elsewhere — ^'what  indeed 
stands  on  a  higher  level  than  all  praying,  fasting  and 
giving  of  alms!  The  reconciling  of  two  enemies."  ^'If 
you" — so  says  'Abdallah  ibn  'Omar — ''bow  so  much 
in  prayer  that  your  body  becomes  bent  as  a  saddle,  and 
fast  so  much  that  you  become  dry  as  a  cord,  God  does 
not  accept  such  until  you  accompany  these  acts  with 
humility."  "What  is  the  best  form  of  Islam!"  To 
this  the  prophet  answers :  ' '  The  best  Islam  is  that  thou 
shouldst  feed  the  hungry,  spread  peace  among  friends 
and  strangers  (that  is  in  all  the  world)."  "He  who 
does  not  refrain  from  falsehood,  of  what  use  is  his 
abstention  from  food  and  drink  to  me?"  "No  one 
enters  paradise  who  causes  harm  to  his  neighbors." 
Abu  Hureira  reports :  ' '  Some  one  was  telling  the  prophet 
about  a  woman  who  was  famous  for  her  praying,  fast- 
ing and  almsgiving,  but  nevertheless  slandered  her 
neighbors  greatly  with  her  tongue."  "She  belongs  in 
hell"  decreed  the  prophet.  Then  the  same  man  told 
of  another  woman  who  was  noted  for  her  carelessness 
in  the  matter  of  prayer  and  fasting,  but  was  in  the  habit 
of  giving  whey  (leben)  to  the  needy,  and  never  spoke 
ill  of  her  neighbors.  ' '  She  belongs  in  paradise ' '  declared 
the  prophet. 

These  quotations  and  numerous  parallel  sayings,  which 
could  easily  be  collected,  do  not  represent  simply  the 
observations  of  ethically  minded  people,  but  indicate 
rather  (perhaps  owing  to  a  polemic  attitude  toward 
spreading  hypocrisy)  the  general  attitude  of  dogmatic 
Islam.  "We  are  not  told  that  holiness  is  dependent  only 
on  the  practice  of  formal  laws.  ' '  To  believe  in  God  and 
perform  pious  deeds,"   that  is,  deeds  of  philanthropy — 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  21 

comprehends  more  and  more  the  conception  of  the  life 
acceptable  to  God.  It  is  specially  when  the  question 
of  formalism  in  religious  conduct  is  under  consideration 
that  emphasis  is  placed  largely  on  saldt;  i.  e.,  submission 
to  the  omnipotence  of  Allah  to  be  manifested  through  the 
general  liturgy;  and  zakdt;  i.  e.,  the  furthering  of  the 
interests  of  the  community  by  taking  part  in  the  required 
contributions,  in  connection  with  which  the  care  of  the 
poor,  widows,  orphans  and  travelers  are  the  first  to 
arouse  the  lawgiver's  sense  of  duty.  To  be  sure,  Islam, 
in  its  development  under  the  cooperation  of  foreign 
influences,  has  engrafted  the  subtlety  of  the  casuists  and 
the  hypercriticism  of  the  dogmatists,  and  has  allowed 
shrewd  speculations  to  strain  and  artificialize  its  obe- 
dience to  God  and  its  faith.  We  shall  presently  see  this 
process  of  development,  but  we  shall  also  come  face  to 
face  again  with  efforts  which  mark  a  reaction  against 
this  growth. 

IX.  Let  us  now  consider  some  of  the  darker  sides  of 
Islam.  If  Islam  held  itself  strictly  to  historical  wit- 
nesses, it  could  not  offer  its  followers  the  ethical  mode 
of  life  of  one  man  as  an  example;  an  ^4mitatio''  of 
Mohammed  would  be  impossible.  But  it  is  not  to  the 
historical  picture  that  the  believer  turns.  The  pious 
legends  about  the  ideal  Mohammed  early  take  the  place 
of  the  historical  man.  The  theology  of  Islam  has  con- 
formed to  the  demand  for  a  picture  which  does  not 
show  him  merely  as  the  mechanical  organ  of  the  divine 
revelation  and  its  spread  among  unbelievers,  but  also 
as  hero  and  example  of  the  highest  virtue.^  Moham- 
med himself  did  not  apparently  desire  this.  God  had 
sent  him  ^^as  a  witness,  as  a  mediator  of  a  hateful 
and  warring  message,  as  a  crier  to  Allah,  with  his 
consent  as  a  shining  torch''  (Sura  33,  v.  44-45).  He 
is  a  guide,  but  not  a  paragon,  except  in  his  hope  in 
God  and  in  the  last  day,  and  in  his  diligent  devotion 


22  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

(v.  21).  The  realization  of  his  human  weaknesses  seem 
to  have  honestly  influenced  him,  and  he  wishes  to  be 
regarded  by  his  followers  as  a  man  with  all  the  faults 
of  ordinary  mortals.  His  work  was  greater  than  his 
person.  He  did  not  feel  that  he  was  a  saint,  and  he 
did  not  wish  to  pass  as  one.  We  will  return  to  this 
question  when  w^e  come  to  the  consideration  of  the 
dogmas  concerning  his  sinlessness.  Perhaps  it  is  this 
very  consciousness  of  human  weakness  which  makes  him 
reject  all  claim  to  miracles,  which  in  his  time  and  sur- 
roundings were  considered  necessary  attributes  of  holi- 
ness.  And  we  must  also  take  into  account  his  progress 
in  the  fulfilment  of  his  mission,  especially  during  the 
Medina  period  when  conditions  finally  changed  him  from 
a  suffering  ascetic  into  a  warrior  and  the  head  of  a 
state.  It  is  the  merit  of  an  Italian  scholar,  Leone 
Caetani,  to  have  put  before  us  in  a  very  interesting  work, 
^^Annali  delP  Islam, '^  the  worldly  view  in  the  oldest 
history  of  Islam.  In  this  work,  the  writer  carries  out 
more  sharply  than  has  even  been  done  before,  a  com- 
prehensive critical  review  of  the  sources  of  the  history 
of  Islam.  He  makes  many  important  corrections  in  the 
ideas  about  the  activity  of  the  prophet  himself. 

It  is  indeed  clear,  that  the  saying  ^  ^  More  slayeth  word 
than  sword"  cannot  apply  to  his  Medina  work.  With 
the  departure  from  Mecca  the  times  ended  in  which  he 
^^ turned  away  from  unbelievers''  (Sura  15,  v.  94)  or 
*^  called  them  to  the  way  of  God  merely  through  wisdom 
and  good  counsel"  (Sura  16,  v.  126) ;  rather  the  time 
had  come  when  the  command  sounded :  ^  ^  When  the  sacred 
months  are  passed,  kill  the  unbelievers  wherever  you 
find  them;  seize  them,  oppress  them,  and  set  yourselves 
against  them  in  every  ambush"  (Sura  9,  v.  5).  *^ Fight 
in  the  path  of  God"  (Sura  2,  v.  245). 

From  the  visions  of  the  destruction  of  this  evil  world, 
he  formed  with  rapid  transition  the  conception  of  a 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  23 

kingdom  wliich  is  to  be  of  this  world.  His  character 
inevitably  suffered  many  an  injury  arising  from  the 
political  change  in  Arabia  due  to  the  success  of  his 
preaching,  as  well  as  to  his  own  leadership.  He  brought 
the  sword  into  the  world,  and  *4t  is  not  only  with  the 
staff  of  his  mouth  that  he  smites  the  world,  and  not 
only  with  the  breath  of  his  lips  that  he  kills  the  Godless, '' 
it  is  a  true  war  trumpet  which  he  sounds,  it  is  the  bloody 
sword  which  he  wields  to  bring  about  his  kingdom. 
According  to  an  Islamic  tradition  giving  a  correct 
account  of  his  life,  he  is  said  to  be  known  in  the  Thora 
as   ^'The  prophet  of  battle  and  war.''- 

The  conditions  of  the  community,  which  he  felt  it  was 
his  divine  calling  to  influence,  were  such  that  he  could 
not  confidently  rely  on  the  assurance:  ^^ Allah  will  fight 
for  you,  but  you  can  rest  in  peace."  He  had  to  wage 
an  earthly  battle  to  attain  recognition  for  his  teachings 
and  still  more  for  their  mastery.  And  this  earthly  war 
was  the  legacy  he  left  to  his  successors. 

Peace  was  to  him  no  virtue.  ^^  Believers  obey  God  and 
the  Apostle:  and  render  not  your  works  vain.  .  .  Be 
not  fainthearted  then,  and  invite  not  the  infidels  to  peace 
when  ye  have  the  upper  hand,  for  God  is  with  you,  and 
will  not  defraud  you  of  the  recompense  of  your  works'' 
(Sura  47,  v.  35,  37).  Fighting  must  go  on  until  ^^the 
word  of  God  has  the  highest  place."  Not  to  take  part 
in  this  war  counted  as  an  act  of  indifference  to  the  will 
of  God.  Love  of  peace  toward  the  heathen  who  hold  back 
from  the  path  of  God  is  anything  but  virtue.  ^^  Those 
believers  that  sit  at  home  free  from  trouble,  and  those 
who  do  valiantly  in  the  cause  of  God  with  their  sub- 
stance and  their  persons,  shall  not  be  treated  alike.  God 
hath  assigned  to  those  who  contend  earnestly  with  their 
persons  and  with  their  substance,  a  rank  above  those 
who  sit  at  home.  Goodly  promises  hath  he  made  to  all. 
But  God  hath  assigned  to  the  strenuous  a  rich  recom- 


24  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

pense,  above  those  who  sit  at  home.  Rank  of  his  own 
bestowal,  and  forgiveness  and  mercy,  for  God  is  indul- 
gent, MercifuP'  (Sura  4,  v.  97,  98). 

X.  This  association  (entanglement)  with  the  inter- 
ests of  the  world,  the  position  of  continuous  readiness 
for  war  which  forms  the  framework  of  the  second  part 
of  Mohammed  ^s  career  as  his  character  became  cor- 
rupted by  worldly  ambition,  influenced  also  the  outward 
form  of  the  higher  conceptions  of  his  religion.  The 
choice  of  war  as  the  means,  and  \T.ctory  as  the  aim,  of 
his  prophetic  calling,  influenced  also  his  conception  of 
God  whom  he  now  wished  to  clothe  with  power  by  resort 
to  arms.  It  is  true,  he  apprehended  the  deity  ^4n  whose 
path"  he  waged  his  wars  and  performed  his  diplomatic 
acts,  as  monotheistic,  clothed  with  powerful  attributes. 
He  unites  absolute  authority,  unlimited  power  for 
recompense,  severity  towards  stubborn  evil-doers,  with 
the  attribute  of  mercy  and  gentleness  (halim) ;  he  is 
tolerant  toward  the  sinner  and  forgiving  toward  the 
repentant.  ^^  Your  Lord  hath  laid  down  for  himself  a  law 
of  mercy''  (Sura  6,  v.  54).  As  a  commentary  on  this 
appears  the  tradition:  '^Wlien  God  had  completed  the 
creation  he  wrote  in  the  book  which  is  preserved  near 
him  on  the  heavenly  throne :  My  mercy  is  stronger  than 
my  anger. ''1  Even  when  **he  smites  with  his  punish- 
ment whomsoever  he  pleases,  his  mercy  embraces  all 
things''  (Sura  7,  v.  155).  Nor  is  the  attribute  of  love 
lacking  among  those  ascribed  to  him  by  Mohammed. 
Allah  is  wadiid,  ''loving."  ''If  ye  love  God,  follow  me, 
and  God  will  love  you  and  forgive  your  sins."  Verily, 
"God  does  not  love  the  unbelievers"  (Sura  3,  v.  92). 

But  he  is  also  the  God  of  war,  which  his  prophets  and 
their  followers  were  to  wage  against  the  enemy.  And 
it  was  inevitable  that  many  mythological  elements  should 
enter  into  this  attribute  in  Mohammed's  conception  of 
God,  as  for  instance,  the  all-powerful  warrior  resists  the 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  25 

intrigues  and  perfidies  of  the  enemy,  continually  oppos- 
ing them  with  cunning  even  more  powerful.  For, 
according  to  an  ancient  Arab  proverb,  ^^  Warfare  is 
cunning. '^  ^^They  think  of  cunning — and  I  (also)  think 
of  cunning'^  (Sura  86,  v.  15,  16).  God  characterizes  the 
manner  of  war  which  he  uses  against  the  gainsayers  of 
his  revelations,  as  ''efficient''  cunning:  ''We  will  lead 
them  by  degrees  to  their  ruin,  by  ways  which  they  know 
not"  (Sura  68,  v.  45  =  7,  v.  182).  The  word  keid—Si 
harmless  kind  of  cunning  and  intrigue — is  used  through- 
out this  passage.-  The  expression  makr,  denoting 
deeper  cunning,  is  stronger ;  Palmer  translates  it  in  one 
place  as  craft;  in  another  as  plot,  and  again  as  strata- 
gem. It  includes,  however,  the  idea  of  wiles  (intrigue). 
("They  practice  wiles  against  our  signs.  Say:  God  is 
swifter  in  the  performing  of  wiles''  [Sura  8,  v.  30].) 
This  is  not  true  only  in  regard  to  the  contemporary  ene- 
mies of  Allah  and  of  his  message,  who  manifest  their 
enmity  in  fighting  and  persecuting  Mohammed.  God  is 
said  to  have  acted  in  the  same  way  toward  the  earlier 
pagan  peoples  who  scorned  the  prophets  sent  to  them; 
toward  the  Thamudites  for  resisting  Salih  who  was  sent 
to  them  (Sura  27,  v.  51),  toward  the  Midianites  to  whom 
was  sent  the  prophet  Shu'eib,  the  Jethro  of  the  Bible 
(Sura  7,  V.  95-97). 

One  must  not  think  that  Mohammed  conceived  of  Allah 
as  a  performer  of  intrigues.  The  real  meaning  to  be 
taken  from  his  threatening  utterances,  is  that  God  treats 
each  one  according  to  his  actions,^  and  that  no  human 
intrigue  avails  against  God,  who  frustrates  all  false  and 
dishonorable  acts,  and,  anticipating  the  evil  plans  of  the 
enemy,  turns  betrayal  and  stratagem  away  from  the 
faithful.*  "That  God  will  ward  off  mischief  from 
believers,  for  God  loveth  not  the  false,  the  infidel"  (Sura 
22,  V.  39).  Mohammed's  own  political  attitude  toward 
the  hindrances  which  beset  him  is  mirrored  in  the  action 


26  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

which  he  attributes  to  the  Lord  of  the  world  against 
intrigues  and  evil-doers.  His  own  inclinations  and  his 
militant  methods  in  dealing  with  the  internal  adversary^ 
are  ascribed  to  God  in  whose  Cause  his  wars  are  waged. 
*^0r  if  thou  fear  treachery  from  any  people,  throw  their 
treaty  to  them  as  thou  fairly  mayest,  for  God  loveth 
not  the  treacherous.  And  think  not  that  the  infidels  shall 
escape  us.    They  shall  not  weaken  God^'  (Sura  8,  v.  60). 

It  is  true  that  the  terminology  betrays  rather  the  tone 
of  a  calculating  diplomat,  than  that  of  a  patient  martyr. 
We  must  emphatically  recognize  that  it  has  not  influenced 
the  ethics  of  Islam,  which  forbid*^  perfidious  action  even 
towards  unbelievers.  Nevertheless  in  Mohammed's  con- 
ception of  the  deity  the  moment  Allah  is  brought  do^vn 
from  his  transcendental  height  to  the  level  of  an  active 
co-worker  with  the  prophets  entangled  in  the  battles  of 
this  world,  outcroppings  of  mythology  betray  themselves. 

So  the  transition  from  the  sway  of  the  sombre  eschato- 
logical  ideas  which  filled  his  soul  and  his  prophecies  at 
the  beginning  of  his  career,  to  the  mundane  struggle  so 
zealously  carried  on  and  so  prominent  in  the  final  out- 
come, was  completed  in  the  outward  growth  of  Moham- 
med's work.  In  this  way  historical  Islam  was  stamped 
with  the  impress  of  religious  warfare,  in  strong  contrast 
to  the  beginning  when  a  permanent  kingdom  in  a  world 
destined  to  destruction  did  not  come  within  the  range 
of  his  vision.  That  which  Mohammed  leaves  behind  as 
a  legacy  for  the  future  conduct  of  his  community  is 
embodied  in  what  he  enacted  in  his  Arabian  environ- 
ment; i.  e.,  to  fight  unbelievers  and  to  spread  the 
kingdom  of  Allah's  power,  rather  than  of  faith.  Accord- 
ing to  this,  the  first  duty  of  the  Moslem  warrior  is  the 
subjection  of  the  unbeliever  rather  than  his  conversion.'^ 

XL  Various  views  have  been  expressed  concerning 
the  question  whether  Mohammed's  horizon  was  limited 
to  his  native  country  of  Arabia,  or  whether  the  con- 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  27 

sciousness  of  Ms  prophetic  calling  had  a  wider  vision; 
in  other  words,  whether  he  felt  he  was  called  to  be  a 
national  or  a  world  prophet.^  I  think  we  should  incline 
to  the  second  proposition.^  It  is  of  course  natural  that 
he  should  interpret  his  inward  call,  and  his  anxiety  over 
the  condemnation  of  the  unjust,  as  applying  first  of  all 
to  those  nearest  him,  who,  because  of  their  condition, 
aroused  him  to  a  perception  of  his  calling  as  a  prophet. 
^^Warn  your  nearest  relatives,"  he  gives  as  God's  com- 
mand (Sura  26,  v.  214).  He  was  sent  *'to  warn  the 
mother  of  cities  and  those  living  in  its  neighborhood' ' 
(Sura  6,  v.  92).  But  undoubtedly,  even  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  his  mission,  his  inner  perception  was  already 
directed  to  a  broader  sphere,  although  his  limited  geo- 
graphical horizon  would  prevent  his  suspecting  the 
boundaries  of  a  world  religion.  At  the  very  beginning 
of  his  mission  he  asserts  that  Allah  had  sent  him  rah- 
matan  lil-  dlamlna,  ^^out  of  mercy  for  the  world"  (Sura 
21,  V.  107).  It  is  a  commonplace  in  the  Koran  that  God's 
instruction  was  given  as  dikrun  lil-' dlamlna  **  remem- 
brance  of  the  world. ' '      EtVroj/  Koa/xov  airavra  .   .   .  irdarj  ry 

fcrlaet  (Mark  16:15) ;  (Koran  12,  v.  104;  38,  v.  87;  68,  v. 
52;  81,  V.  27).  This  '  alamun  is  constantly  used  in  the 
Koran  in  all  its  various  meanings.  God  is  *4ord  of  the 
^alamun."  He  has  adopted  the  differences  in  speech  and 
color  amongst  men  as  signs  of  the  ' dlamun  (Sura  30,  v. 
21).  This  is  surely  mankind  in  its  widest  sense.  In  the 
same  sense  Mohammed  extends  his  mission  over  the 
whole  area  indicated  by  this  word  according  to  his  own 
understanding  of  it.  His  point  of  departure  is  natur- 
ally his  own  people  and  country.  Nevertheless,  the  con- 
nections which,  toward  the  end  of  his  career,  he  aspired 
to  make  with  foreign  powers,  and  the  other  undertakings 
planned  by  him,  show  a  striving  towards  lands  beyond 
Arabia.  His  goal,  according  to  a  remark  of  Noldeke, 
extended  to  territories  in  which  he  was  sure  to  meet  the 


28  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Eoman  enemy.  The  last  of  the  expeditions  which  he 
urged  upon  his  warriors  was  an  attack  on  the  Byzantine 
kingdom.  And  the  great  conquests  undertaken  directly 
after  his  death,  carried  out  by  those  most  familiar  with 
his  views,  are  indeed  the  best  commentaries  on  his  own 
desires. 

Islamic  tradition  itself,  in  various  utterances  of  the 
prophet,  indicates  that  he  was  convinced  of  having  a 
mission  to  all  mankind;  to  the  red  and  black  alike.^ 
It  emphasizes  the  universal  characteristic  of  his  mission 
to  the  farthest  boundaries  imaginable.*  According  to 
tradition  the  prophet  voices,  in  unmistakable  words,  the 
thought  of  the  conquest  of  the  world  and  foretells  it  in 
symbolic  acts;  indeed,  it  even  finds  in  the  Koran  (Sura 
48,  V.  61)  the  promise  of  the  imminent  conquest  of  the 
Iranic  and  Roman  states.^  Naturally  we  cannot  follow 
the  Moslem  theologians  as  far  as  this.  But  making  due 
allowance  for  their  exaggerations  for  reasons  pointed 
out,  we  must  still  grant  that  Mohammed  had  already 
begun  to  imagine  a  great  power  spreading  far  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  the  Arabian  nation,  and  including  a 
large  part  of  mankind.  Shortly  after  the  death  of  its 
founder  it  begins  its  victorious  course  in  Asia  and  Africa. 

XII.  In  a  comprehensive  characterization  of  Islam  it 
would  be  a  gross  error  to  place  the  principal  importance 
on  the  Koran,  or  to  found  a  judgment  of  Islam  simply 
on  this  sacred  book  of  the  Moslem  community.  It  covers 
at  the  most  only  the  first  two  decades  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Islam.  Throughout  the  entire  history  of  Islam 
the  Koran  remains  as  a  divine  foundation  deeply  rever- 
enced by  the  followers  of  the  religion  of  Mohammed.  It 
is  the  object  of  a  veneration  such  as  has  hardly  yet  been 
given  to  any  other  book  in  the  literature  of  the  world.^ 
Even  though,  as  a  matter  of  course,  later  Islam  con- 
stantly turns  back  to  it  as  a  standard  by  which  to  meas- 
ure the  product  of  all  ages,  and  believes  it  to  be,  or  at 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM.  29 

least,  strives  to  be  in  harmony  with  it ;  we  must  not  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  it  does  not  by  any  means  suffice 
for  an  understanding  of  historical  Islam. 

Owing  to  his  own  mental  changes,  as  well  as  to  various 
personal  experiences,  Mohammed  himself  was  forced  to 
nullify  several  Koranic  revelations  by  means  of  newer 
divine  revelations,  thereby  conceding  that  he  abrogated 
by  divine  command  that  which,  a  short  time  before,  had 
been  revealed  as  the  word  of  God.  We  must  therefore 
be  prepared  for  the  concessions  which  appear  when 
Islam  crosses  its  Arabian  boundaries  and  sets  itself 
up  as  a  world  power ! 

We  cannot  understand  Islam  without  the  Koran,  but 
the  Koran  does  not  by  any  means  afford  us  a  complete 
understanding  of  Islam  in  its  course  through  history. 

In  our  next  lectures  we  shall  consider  more  in  detail 
the  phases  of  development  which  led  Islam  beyond  the 
Koran. 


30  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


NOTES. 
I.  1.  ^anleidung  tot  de  Godsdienst  wetenschap"     (Amsterdam  1899) 

177  fe. 
II.  1.  This  syncretic  characteristic  has  been  finally  proved  "by  K.  VoUers 
in  an  analysis  of  the  ' '  Chidher-legends "  in  which  he  has  found, 
together  with  Jewish  and  Christian  elements,  also  late  echoes  of 
Babylonian  and  Hellenistic  mythology.  Archiv  fiir  Eeligionswis- 
senchaft  1909.    XII  277  ff. 

2.  Hubert  Grimme  has  lately  emphasized  the  influence  of  the  ideas 
prevalent  in  S.  Arabia,  especially  in  his  ''Mohammed'^  (Munich 
1904)  and  in  the  * '  Orientalischen  Studien"  (Noldeke-Fest- 
schrift)  453  ff. 

3.  Harnack,  ''Die  Mission  und  Ausbreitung  des  Christentums "  93, 
above. 

III.  1.  Kultur  d.  Gegenw.  94,  12-23  fr.  below. 

IV.  i.  Ibid.  95.  12  fr.  below  ff. 

2.  This  point  of  view  was  established  by  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  in 
his  first  work  ''Het  Mekkaansche  Feest"  (Leiden  1880). 
V.  1.  This  peculiarity  has  been  noticed  by  the  Moslems  themselves. 
Therefore,  the  following  account  concerning  Abu  Euhm  al-Ghifari, 
a  comrade  of  the  prophet,  is  characteristic.  During  an  expedi- 
tion he  rode  at  the  prophet's  side  on  a  she-camel.  The  two  ani- 
mals came  so  near  together  that  Abu  Euhm's  rather  thick  sandals 
rubbed  the  prophet's  leg  causing  him  great  pain.  The  prophet 
gave  vent  to  his  wrath  by  striking  Abu  Euhm's  foot  with  his 
riding  whip.  The  latter,  however,  was  in  great  perturbation 
''and"  he  says  himself,  "I  feared,  that  a  Koranic  revelation 
would  be  given  about  me,  because  I  had  been  the  cause  of  this 
dreadful  thing. ' '     Ibn  Sa'  d.  Biographies  IV.  I,  180,  4-9. 

2.  Of.  Noldeke,  "Gesehichte  des  Korans"  (Gottingen  1860)  p.  49. 
(New  Edition  by  Schwally,  Leipzig  1909  p.  63). 

3.  Nevertheless  Moslem  theologians  do  not  wish  to  deny  that  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  Koran  are  more  important  in  content,  than 
others.  This  point  of  view,  sanctioned  also  by  the  orthodox,  is 
established  by  Taki  al-dia  ibn  Teymiyya.  Jawab  alii  al-imdn  fl 
tafddul  ay  al-Kur'dn  (Cairo  1322;  Brockelmann,  Hist,  of  Arabic 
Lit.  II  104,  No.  19). 

VI.  1.  Cf.  E.  Geyer  in  WZKM  (1907)  XXI  400. 
VII.  1.  For  the  Jewish  elements  see  A.  J.  Wensinck's  dissertation, 
"Mohammed  en  de  Joden  te  Medina"  (Leiden  1908).  C.  H. 
Becker's  work  deals  with  the  later  development,  but  it  also 
throws  light  on  the  early  history.  "Christentum  und  Islam" 
(Tubingen  1907). 
2.  For  this  summary  of  the  five  principal  duties  see  Bukhari,  Imdn 


NOTES.  31 

No.  37,  Tafsir  No.  208,  which  also  contains  the  oldest  formula 
of  the  Moslem  creed. 

It  would  be  useful  for  the  understanding  of  the  earliest  develop- 
ment of  Moslem  morals,  to  investigate  what  duties  from  time  to 
time  were  considered  in  old  documents  fimdamental  to  the  belief 
and  religious  practice  of  Islam.  We  would  like  to  mention  one 
which  in  a  speech  attributed  to  Mohammed  is  added  as  a  sixth 
to  the  five  points  mentioned  in  the  text  and  recognized  since 
ancient  times  as  one  of  the  fundamentals  of  Islam:  ''That  thou 
shouldst  offer  to  men  what  thou  desirest  should  be  offered  to 
thee,  and  that  thou  shouldst  avoid  doing  to  men  what  thou  dost 
not  wish  to  be  done  to  injure  thee."  (Ibn  Sa'd  VI  37,  12  ff.; 
Usd  al-ghaha  III  266,  cf.  275  of  the  same  group.)  This  last 
teaching,  taken  by  itself,  appears  as  a  detached  speech  of  Moham- 
med. The  13th  of  the  40  traditions  of  the  Nawawi  (according 
to  Bukhari  and  Muslim)  :  ''none  of  you  is  a  true  believer  until 
he  desires  for  his  brother,  that  which  he  desires  for  himself.'* 
Cf.  Ibn  Kuteiba,  d.  Wiistenfeld  203,  13.  A  similar  saying  by 
'Ali  ibn  Husein,  Ya'kubi,  Amiales  ed  Houtsma  II   364,  6    (3). 

3.  Cf.  now  Martin  Hartmann   "Der  Islam"    (Leipzig  1909)  p.  18. 

4.  Cf.  my  treatise  on  "Die  Sabbath  institution  in  Islam"  (Gedenk- 
buch  fiir  D.  Kaufmann,  Breslau  1900;    p.  89.  91). 

VIII.  1.  "Eevue  Critique  et  Litteraire."     1906  p.  307. 

2.  See  C.  H.  Becker's  excellent  remarks  in  the  treatise:  "1st  der 
Islam  eine  Gefehr  fiir  unsere  Kolonien."  (Koloniale  Eundschau, 
May  1909,  290  ff.) .  Cf .  also  ' '  L  'Islam  et  1  'etat  marocain ' '  by  Ed. 
Michaux  Bellaire  in  the  Eevue  du  Monde  Musulman  1909,  VIII 
313  ff.  for  the  refutation  of  the  widespread  opinion,  that  the 
principles  of  Islam  hinder  practical  progress. 

3.  Tisdall,  "The  Eeligion  of  the  Crescent"  (London  1906 j  Society 
for  promoting  Christian  knowledge)   62. 

4.  Sproat,  "Scenes  and  Studies  of  Savage  Life"  quoted  by  E 
Westermark,  ' '  The  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Moral  Ideas ' 
II  (London  1908)  160,  with  numerous  examples.  Because  of  the 
lack  of  an  equivalent  for  the  word  "interesting,"  Turkish  and 
Arabic  people  have  as  wrongly  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
races  whose  native  languages  these  are,  lack  intellectual  curiosity. 
(Duncan  B.  Macdonald,  "The  Eeligious  Attitude  and  Life  in 
Islam"  (Chicago  1909)  121  and  Ibid.  122,  the  quotation  from 
"Turkey  in  Europe"    by  Odysseus.) 

5.  Oldenberg,   "The  Eeligion  of  the  Veda"    (Berlin  1894)  305,  9. 

6.  "Le    Livre    des    Avares"     ed.    G.    van    Vloten    (Leiden    1900) 
212,  3  ff. 

7.  Tisdall  1.  c.  88. 

IX.  1.  It  is  the  most  zealous  aim  of  the  pious  to  imitate  even  in  the 
smallest  details  the  Mohammed  of  the  legends  gifted  with  the 


J  > 


32  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

highest  perfections.  This  imitation  at  first  had  as  its  object  not 
so  much  the  ethical  points  of  view  as  the  manner  of  the  ritual- 
istic observances  and  of  the  outward  habits  of  life.  'Abdallah, 
the  son  of  'Omar,  who  in  all  things  adopted  the  '^imitatio"  in 
this  sense  as  his  duty,  was  considered  the  most  scrupulous  follower 
of  al-amr  al-awwal,  ''of  former  things"  (Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  1  106, 
22).  He  tried  during  his  expeditions  always  to  halt  where  the 
prophet  had  halted,  to  pray  everywhere  where  the  prophet  had 
prayed,  to  let  his  camel  rest  wherever  the  prophet's  camel  had 
rested.  A  tree  was  pointed  out  under  which  the  prophet  once 
rested.  Ibn  'Omar  carefully  supplied  this  tree  with  water,  so 
that  it  should  be  preserved  and  not  wither.  (Nawawi,  Tahdlh 
358.)  In  the  same  way  they  strove  -to  imitate  the  habits  of  the 
' '  companions  of  the  prophet. ' '  Their  behavior  is  an  example  for 
true  believers.  (Ibn  'Abdalbarr  al-Namari,  Jami'  hayan  al-'ilm 
wa-fadlilii  (Cairo  1326,  ed.  Mahmasani,  157);  this  is  indeed 
the  substance  of  all  Sunna.  The  theological  presentation  of  the 
prophet's  biography  starts  from  the  point  of  view  that  the 
prophet  himself  believed  that  every  detail  of  his  actions  in 
religious  practice  would  count  in  the  future.  He,  therefore,  once 
omitted  a  formality  so  that  the  faithful  should  not  make  it 
Sunna  (Ibn  Sa'd  II  I  131,  19). 

It  was  natural  to  expect  that  Mohammed  should  soon  be 
regarded  as  an  ethical  example.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  litera- 
ture on  this  subject.  The  theologian  of  Cordova  Abu  Muhammad 
'All  ibn  Hazm  (d.  456/1069),  known  for  his  unbending  tradition- 
alism in  dogma  and  law,  advances  this  ethical  claim  in  his  treatise 
on  the  "Habit  and  Elevation  of  Soul"  {Kiiab-dl-akUak  wal- 
siyar  fl  muddwdt  al-nufus)  which  also  deserves  attention  because 
the  writer  has  included  "Confessions"  in  it:  "Whoever 
strives  for  the  blessedness  of  the  other  world  and  the  wisdom 
of  this,  for  justice  in  behavior,  and  for  the  union  of  all  good 
qualities,  as  well  as  for  the  merit  of  all  virtues:  he  can  follow 
the  example  of  the  prophet  Mohammed,  and  as  far  as  he  is 
able,  imitate  his  qualities  and  his  manners.  May  God  help  us  with 
His  grace,  that  we  may  be  able  to  resemble  this  paragon." 
(Cairo  1908,  ed.  Mahmasani  p.  21.) 

But  there  was  a  step  beyond  this.  Although  belonging  to  a 
period  of  thought  to  be  treated  in  a  later  division,  we  must 
nevertheless  add  in  this  connection,  that  at  a  higher  level  of 
development  of  Moslem  ethics  under  the  influence  of  Sufiism 
(Chapter  IV)  it  became  an  ethical  ideal  that  one  should  strive 
to  realize  (manifest)  the  "qualities  of  God"  in  one's  daily 
life.  Compare  the  Greek  point  of  view  "to  follow  God"  with 
the  Jewish  point  of  view  expressed  in  the  Talmud  (Sota  14a.) 
and  in  Sifre,  (Deut.  49,  ed.  Friedmann  p.  85a,  16). 


NOTES.  33 

Even  the  old  Sufi  Abu-1-Husein  al-Nuri  assumes  this  as  an 
ethical  aim  (^  Attar,  TadUrat  al-auliya  ed.  E.  A.  Nicholson, 
London  1907  II  55,  1).  Ibn  'ArabT,  from  this  standpoint  of 
the  imitation  of  God,  demands  the  virtue  of  showing  kindness  to 
one's  enemy.  (Journ.  Roy.  As.  Soc.  1906,  p.  819,  10.)  Under 
the  influence  of  his  Sufiistic  religious  views  Ghazali  shows  up  an 
exhaustive  summary  of  the  preceding  discussion  as  follows :  ' '  The 
perfection  and  happiness  of  man  consist  in  the  striving  for  the 
realization  of  the  qualities  of  God  and  also  in  adorning  one- 
self with  the  true  essence  of  His  attributes.''  In  the  introduc- 
tion to  his  ''Fattihat  'al-ulum"  (Cairo  1322)  he  gives  as  a 
Hadith  the  saying:  takhallaku  di-ahUalc  illahi  (to  try  to  acquire 
the  qualities  of  Allah).  This  is  supposed  to  give  deeper  signifi- 
cance to  the  idea  of  the  names  of  God  {al-Maksad  al-asna^ 
Cairo,  1322,  p.  23  ff.).  Isma'il  al-Farani  (c.  1485)  reflects 
Ghazali 's  point  of  view  in  his  commentary  to  Alfarabi  (ed.  Hor- 
ten,  Zeitschr.  fur  Assyiiol.  XX  350).  This  conception  of  the 
ethical  aim,  in  the  case  of  the  Sufis,  was  also  influenced  by  the 
Platonic  conception,  that  the  desired  escape  from  mortal  nature 
{dv7]T7i  (pvccs)  lay  in  ''being  as  much  like  God  as  possible." 
(Theaet.  176  B.  Staat  613  A.)  According  to  later  Greek  schol- 
ars ''growing  in  likeness  {tashal)'buh  z=:  oixoicoais)  to  the  creator 
according  to  man's  measure  of  strength"  ( Alfarabi 's  "Phil- 
osophische  Abhandlungen "  ed.  F.  Dieterici,  Leiden  1890,  53, 
15  and  often  in  the  writings  of  the  "Pure  Brethren")  is  given 
by  the  Arabian  philosophers  as  the  practical  aim  of  philosophy. 
Sufiism,  however,  goes  a  step  further  in  the  definition  of  the 
summum  bonum,  to  which  we  will  return  further  on. 
2.  "Oriens  Christianus"  1902,  392. 
X.  1.  Bukhari,  Tauliid  No.  15.  22.  28.  55.  J.  Barth  (Festschrift  fiir 
Berliner,  Frankfurt  a.  M.  1903,  38  No.  6)  brings  this  speech 
into  a  summary  of  the  Midrashic  elements  in  Moslem  tradition. 

2.  Several  commentators  place  in  this  group  Sura  13,  V  14.  cf. 
Kali,  AmciU  (Bulak,  1324)   II  272. 

3.  Cf.  Hupfeld-Riehm,  Commentary  to  Ps.  18,  27. 

4.  The  common  saying:  Allah  yaTcMn  al  TcM'in  (Allah  betrays 
the  treacherous)  is  explained  in  this  sense:  cf.  Mada' atni 
TcJiada'aM  Allah  (they  have  deceived  me,  may  Allah  deceive  them) 
(Cf.  Sura  4,  v.  141)  Ibn  Sa'd  VIII  167,  25.  Mu'awiyya  in  a 
threatening  address  to  the  resisting  'Irakians  is  said  to  have  used 
the  words :  ' '  For  Allah  is  strong  in  attack  and  in  punishment,  he 
defrauded  those  who  practice   perfidy  against  him."     Tabari  I 

2913,  6. 

If  then  malcr  and  Iceid,  which  are  ascribed  to  God,  mean  nothing 
but  the  frustration  of  the  opponent's  cunning,  then  the  phrase 
Malcr  Allah  has  passed  from  the  Koran  into  the  speech  of  Islam 


34  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

and  been  unobjectionably  appropriated  by  it,  even  in  associa- 
tions wMcli  do  not  fall  under  that  interpretation.  A  very  favor- 
ite Mohammedan  supplication  is:  ''We  seek  refuge  with  Allah 
from  the  MaTcr  Allah  (Sheikh  Hureyflsh,  Kital)  al-raud  al-fa'ik 
■fi-l-mawd' iz  wal-raM'iJc,  Cairo  1310,  p.  10,  16;  13,  26)  which 
belongs  in  the  group  of  prayers  in  which  one  seeks  help  from 
God  with  God.  (Cf.  'Attar,  TadUrat  al-auUya  II,  80,  11;  ZDMG 
XL VIII  98.)  Among  the  prophet's  prayers,  which  the  faith- 
ful are  commanded  to  use,  the  following  plea  is  also  mentioned: 
"Help  me  and  not  those  against  me,  practice  malcr  for  my 
good,  but  do  not  practice  it  for  my  evil."  Nawawi,  AdMr  (Cairo 
1312)  p.  175,  6  according  to  tradition  Tirmidl  II  272.  This  for- 
mula is  found  in  still  stronger  form  in  the  prayer-book  of  the 
Shiites  SahifaMmila  (see  Noldeke-Festschrift  314  below)  33,  6: 
cf.  also  the  following  speech:  "Even  if  one  of  my  feet  were 
standing  in  paradise,  and  the  other  was  still  outside,  I  should 
not  feel  safe  from  the  Malcr  Allah"  (Subkl,  TahaTcdt  al-Slmfi'iyya 
III  56,  7  below)  cf.  'Attar  1.  e.  II  178,  21.  The  Moslems  them- 
selves take  this  expression  as  meaning  the  "unavoidable  severe 
punishment  of  God." 

5.  Cf.  especially  Ibn  Sa'd  II,  I  31,  14. 

6.  Ibid.  IV,  I  26  above. 

7.  The  oldest  battles  of  Islam  are  set  forth  from  this  point  of  view 
in  the   "Annali  dell  Islam"    by  Leone  Caetani,  vol.  II  passim. 

XI.  1.  Cf.  now  also  Lammens,  "Etudes  sur  le  regne  du  Calif e  Omaiy- 
ade  Mo'awia"  I  422  (in  Melanges  de  la  Faculte  orientale  de 
I'Universite  Saint  Joseph  III — 1908 — 286),  which  rejects  the 
acceptance  of  the  early  conception  of  Islam  as  a  world  of  religion. 

2.  I  agree  with  Noldeke's  view  (in  his  review  of  Caetani 's  work, 
Wiener  Zeitschrif t  f .  d.  Kunde  d.  Morgenlandes  XXI— 1907— 307) . 
Noldeke  there  emphasizes  the  passages  in  the  Koran  in  which 
Mohammed  (already  in  Mecca)  feels  himself  to  be  a  messen- 
ger and  Warner  Tcdffatan  lil-nds   "to  all  mankind." 

3.  i.  e.  Arabians  and  Non-Arabians.  (Muhammudansche  Studien 
I  269.)  But  already  the  old  interpreter,  Mujahid,  assigns  the 
expression  "the  red"  to  men,  "the  black"  to  the  jinn  ("Mus- 
nad  Ahmed"    V,  145  below). 

4.  It  gives  a  scope  to  this  universality  which  exceeds  the  circle 
of  mankind,  in  truth,  so  that  not  only  the  jinn  are  included,  but 
in  a  certain  sense,  the  angels  also.  Ibn  Ha  jar  al-Heitami  in 
Ms  Fatawl  Hadithiyya  (Cairo  1307)  114  fe.  gives  a  lengthy 
explanation  of  the  Moslem  view  of  this  question. 

5.  Ibn  Sa'd  II,  I  83,  25. 

XII.  1.  However  one  may  judge  of  the  rhetorical  worth  of  the  Koran, 
one  cannot  deny  an  existing  bias.  The  people  who  were  appointed 
to  the  unsettled  parts,  (under  the  Caliph  Abu  Bekr  and   'Othman) 


NOTES.  35 

fulfilled  their  task  at  times  in  a  very  bungling  way.  With  the 
exception  of  the  oldest  short  Mecca  Suras,  which  the  prophet, 
even  before  his  flight  to  Medina,  had  used  as  liturgical  texts, 
and  which,  being  detached,  short,  isolated  pieces,  were  in  little 
danger  of  change  from  being  edited,  the  sacred  book,  especially 
several  of  the  Medina  Suras,  often  present  a  picture  of  disorder, 
of  lack  of  unity,  which  caused  a  great  deal  of  trouble  and  difi- 
culty  to  the  later  expounders,  who  were  obliged  to  regard  the 
given  sequence  as  inviolable.  If  one  is  to  attack  the  text  of  the 
Koran  as  was  lately  urged  by  Eudolf  Geyer  (Gott  Gel.  Anz. 
1909,  51),  with  a  view  to  producing  ^'an  edition  truly  critical 
and  in  accord  with  the  conclusions  of  science,"  one  must  also 
take  into  account  the  removal  of  verses  from  the  original  eon- 
text  as  well  as  interpolations.  (Of.  August  Fischer,  in  the 
Noldeke-Festschrift  33  ff.)  The  confused  character  of  the  col- 
lection appears  very  clearly  in  the  survey  which  Noldeke  has 
given  concerning  the  order  of  detached  Suras,  in  his  ''History 
of  the  Koran"    (1  ed.  pp.  70-174;    2  ed.  pp.  87-234). 

The  assumption  of  interpolations  sometimes  helps  us  to  explain 
the  difficulties.    I  should  like  to  demonstrate  this  by  an  example. 

In  the  246th  Sura  (from  verse  27  on)  we  are  told  how  decent 
people  are  to  visit  each  other,  how  they  are  to  announce  them- 
selves, how  they  are  to  greet  the  inmates,  and  how  women  and 
children  should  then  behave.  The  precepts  concerning  these  rela- 
tionships have  fallen  into  confusion  because  from  v.  32-34  and 
from  V.  35-56  digressions  have  been  introduced  which  are  only 
loosely  connected  with  the  main  theme.  (See  Noldeke-Schwally 
p.  211.)  Finally  at  v.  57  the  announcement  of  the  visit  is  again 
taken  up  till  v.  59.  Then  v.  60  says:  ''It  is  no  restriction  for 
the  blind  and  no  confinement  for  the  lame  and  no  confinement 
for  you  yourselves,  that  you  eat  (in  anyone)  of  your  houses, 
or  in  the  houses  of  your  mothers,  or  in  the  houses  of  your 
brothers,  or  in  the  houses  of  your  sisters,  or  in  the  houses  of 
your  paternal  uncles,  or  in  the  houses  of  your  paternal  aunts, 
or  in  the  houses  of  your  maternal  uncles,  or  in  the  houses  of 
your  maternal  aunts,  or  of  any  house  of  which  you  have  the 
key,  or  of  your  friend.  It  lays  no  crime  on  you,  whether  you 
eat  apart  or  together.  (61)  And  when  you  enter  a  house,  then 
greet  each  other  with  a  greeting  from  Allah,  fortunate  and  good. ' ' 
Mohammed  here  gives  his  people  permission  to  sit  freely  at  table 
with  their  relatives,  to  allow  themselves  to  be  invited  to  eat 
even  with  female  blood-relatives.  One  can't  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  first  words  of  v.  60,  which  extends  the  liberty  of  the 
blind,  lame  and  ill,  in  their  natural  connection  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  subject.  An  author  writing  of  "Medicine  in  the 
Koran"    has  taken  this  connection  very  seriously  and  has  added 


36  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  criticism  to  the  fact  that  indeed  the  company  of  the  blind 
and  lame  at  meals  was  not  harmful,  that,  ''on  the  contrary, 
a  meal  in  common  with  a  sick  person  can  be  very  dangerous  from 
the  standpoint  of  health.  Mohammed  would  have  done  better  not 
to  object  to  the  disinclination  to  if  (Opitz,  ''Die  Medizin 
im  Koran,''   Stuttgart  1906,  63.) 

But  upon  closer  consideration,  we  see  that  this  passage  so  for- 
eign to  the  subject  matter  was  introduced  from  another  group. 
It  did  not  originally  concern  itself  with  the  question  of  taking 
part  in  meals  outside  of  one's  own  house,  but  rather  with  tak- 
ing part  in  the  warlike  undertakings  of  young  Islam.  In  the 
Sura  48  v.  11-16,  the  prophet  declaims  against  those  "Arabians 
who  remain  behind,"  who  did  not  take  part  in  the  warlike  expe- 
ditions, and  threatens  them  with  severe  divine  punishment. 
To  that  he  adds  v.  17:  "It  is  no  compulsion  (leisa  .  .  .  harajun) 
for  the  blind,  and  it  is  no  compulsion  for  the  lame,  and  it  is 
no  compulsion  for  the  sick ' ' — in  the  text  word  for  word  like  Sura 
24  V.  60a — ,  i.  e.,  the  remaining  away  of  such  people  or  of  those 
seriously  prevented  for  some  other  reason,  counts  as  pardoned. 
This  saying  has  now  been  introduced  into  other  connections  as 
a  foreign  element,  and  has  apparently  influenced  the  editing  of 
the  verse  whose  original  beginning  has  not  been  construed  in  a 
right  way.  Even  Moslem  commentators,  although  without  recog- 
nizing an  interpolation,  have  tried  to  explain,  the  words  accord- 
ing to  their  natural  meaning  as  a  pardon  to  those  who  remain 
away  from  battle  on  account  of  bodily  inability;  but  they  must 
submit  to  the  objection  to  this  view,  that  according  to  it,  the 
passage  in  question  "does  not  accord  with  what  precedes  and 
what  follows."     (Baidawi,  ed.  Fleischer  II  31,  6.) 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW. 

I.  In  Anatole  France's  narrative  *^Sur  la  Pierre 
Blanche ' '  a  group  of  learned  men,  interested  in  the  fate 
of  the  ancient  world,  discuss  in  friendly  conversation, 
serious  questions  of  religious  history.  In  the  course  of 
this  exchange  of  thoughts  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  one 
of  them :  ^  ^  Qui  fait  une  religion  ne  salt  pas  ce  qu  'il  fait, ' ' 
that  is  *^  Seldom  does  the  founder  of  a  religion  know  the 
possible  historical  extent  of  his  creation. ' ' 

This  is  remarkably  true  of  Mohammed.  Even  if  we 
must  grant  that  after  the  successes  which  he  himself 
gained  in  battle,  the  thought  of  Islam's  sphere  of  power 
extending  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  his  own  country, 
hovered  before  his  mental  vision,  still,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  institutions  organized  by  him  could  not  provide  for 
the  extensive  relations  into  which  conquering  Islam  was 
very  soon  to  enter.  But  the  objects  looming  largest  in 
Mohammed's  horizon  were  after  all  those  of  the  imme- 
diate future. 

Even  under  his  immediate  followers,  the  first  caliphs, 
the  community  of  Islam,  growing  out  of  the  religious 
body  which  it  had  been  in  Mecca  and  out  of  the  primi- 
tive political  organization  to  which  it  had  developed  in 
Medina,  is  already  on  its  way  to  become  a  world  power — 
a  growth  partly  owing  to  inward  consolidation,  partly 
also  to  propagation  by  conquest. 

In  the  mother  country  as  well  as  in  the  conquered 
provinces,  new  relations  were  constantly  emerging,  which 
demanded  regulating.  It  was  time  to  lay  firm  govern- 
mental foundations  for  administration. 

The  religious  thoughts  in  the  Koran,  moreover,  were  in 
embryo    only,    and   were    to    attain   their    development 


38  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

through  the  wide  sphere  which  was  now  opening  before 

them. 

It  was  the  events  through  w^hich  Islam  came  into  con- 
tact with  other  spheres  of  thought  that  first  awoke  in  the 
breasts  of  its  more  thoughtful  followers  real  speculation 
on  religious  problems, — speculation  hitherto  dormant  in 
the  Arab.  Moreover,  the  religious  laws  and  ordinances 
pertaining  to  practical  life,  and  the  forms  of  legal  ritual, 
were  scanty  and  indefinite. 

The  unfolding  of  the  world  of  Moslem  thought  as  well 
as  the  definite  directions  given  to  the  various  forms  of 
its  manifestations  and  the  establishment  of  its  institu- 
tions, are  all  the  result  of  the  work  of  following  genera- 
tions. Nor  is  this  result  brought  about  without  inward 
conflicts  and  without  adjustments.  How  wrong  it  would 
be  under  these  circumstances  to  assume,  as  is  often 
asserted  at  present,  that  Islam  ^'enters  the  world  as  a 
rounded  system.  ^'^  On  the  contrary,  the  Islam  of 
Mohammed  and  of  the  Koran  is  immature  and  needs 
for  its  completion  the  activity  of  the  coming  generations. 

We  wish  first  to  consider  only  a  few  requirements  of 
the  external  life.  The  most  immediate  needs  were  pro- 
vided for  by  Mohammed  and  his  helpers.  We  may  credit 
the  tradition  which  tells  us  that  Mohammed  himself 
established  a  graded  tariff  for  the  impost  taxes.-  The 
conditions  of  his  own  time  make  it  imperative  to  raise 
the  zakdt  from  the  primitive  level  of  communistic  alms 
to  a  regulated  governmental  tax  of  an  obligatory  amount. 

After  his  death  such  regulations  were,  by  sheer  neces- 
sity, forced  more  and  more  into  prominence.  The  sol- 
diers scattered  through  distant  provinces,  especially 
those  who  did  not  come  from  the  religious  circle  of 
Medina,  had  not  gotten  their  bearings  as  to  the  mode  of 
religious  practices.  And  first  now  for  the  political 
demands. 

The    continuous   wars    and    the    extensive    conquests 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  39 

demanded  the  establishment  of  military  standards  as 
well  as  further  laws  for  the  conquered  peoples.  These 
laws  had  to  deal  with  the  legal  status  of  the  subjects 
and  with  the  economic  problems  arising  from  new  con- 
ditions. It  was  especially  the  energetic  caliph,  ^Omar, 
the  actual  founder  of  the  Moslem  state,  whose  great  con- 
quests in  Syria,  including  Palestine  and  Egypt,  brought 
about  the  first  definite  regulation  of  political  and  eco- 
nomic questions. 

IL  The  details  of  these  regulations  cannot  interest  us 
here,  since  for  our  purposes  the  general  knowledge  of 
the  fact  is  alone  of  importance,  namely  that  the  legal 
development  of  Islam  began  immediately  after  the 
prophet 's  death  and  kept  pace  with  its  need. 

One  of  these  details  I  must  nevertheless  take  up,  on 
account  of  its  importance  for  an  understanding  of  the 
character  of  this  early  period.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
the 'oldest  demands  laid  upon  the  conquering  Moslems 
face  to  face  with  the  conquered  unbelievers  (in  this  first 
phase  of  Moslem  legal  development),  were  penetrated 
with  the  spirit  of  toleration.^  "Whatever  semblance  of 
religious  tolerance  yet  remains  in  Moslem  states,  and 
such  semblances  have  been  frequently  verified  by  eight- 
eenth century  travelers,  goes  back  to  the  first  half  of 
the  seventh  century  with  its  outspoken  principle  of  free- 
dom in  religious  practices  granted  to  monotheists  of 
another  faith. 

The  tolerant  attitude  of  ancient  Islam  drew  its  author- 
ity from  the  Koran  (2,  v.  257).  ^^  There  is  no  compulsion 
in  belief. '^^  Even  in  later  times  in  a  few  cases  people 
fell  back  on  this  to  ward  oif  from  those  heretics  who  had 
been  forced  to  embrace  Islam  the  severe  penal  conse- 
quences generally  the  lot  of  apostates.^ 

The  accounts  of  the  first  Moslem  decade  offer  many 
an  example  of  the  religious  tolerance  of  the  first  caliphs 
towards  followers  of  the  ancient  religions.     The  direc- 


40  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

tions  given  to  the  leaders  of  conquering  bands  are  very 
instructive.  As  a  leading  example  we  have  the  contract 
which. the  prophet  made  with  the  Christians  of  Nejran, 
guaranteeing*  the  protection  of  Christian  institutions; 
and  also  the  directions  which  he  gives  Mu'ad  ibn  Jebel 
for  his  conduct  in  Yemen:  ^^No  Jew  is  to  be  disturbed 
in  his  Judaism.''^  The  peace  treaties  conceded  to  the 
Byzantine  empire  crumbling  more  and  more  under  Islam, 
were  actuated  by  this  lofty  spirit^  though  there  were 
certain  barriers  against  the  public  practice  of  religious 
ceremonies  (they  could  practice  their  religion  undis- 
turbed) by  the  payment  of  a  toleration  tax  (jizya).  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  noteworthy  that  an  historical  study 
of  the  sources  leads  to  the  conclusions^  that  many  a 
restriction,^  introduced  in  these  old  days,  did  not  come 
into  practice  until  a  time  more  favorable  to  fanaticism. 
This,  for  example,  holds  true  of  the  decree  against  the 
building  of  new,  or  the  repairing  of  old,  churches.  ^  Omar 
II  in  his  narrow-mindedness,  was  apparently  the  first  to 
take  such  a  measure  seriously.  His  example  was  readily 
followed  by  rulers  of  the  stamp  of  the  ^Abbaside  Muta- 
wakkil.  And  the  fact  that  such  stern  rulers  found  occa- 
sion to  attack  temples  of  other  faiths  erected  since  the 
conquest,  is  in  itself  proof  that  there  had  hitherto  been 
no  hindrance  to  such  erections. 

Just  as  the  principle  of  tolerance  ruled  in  the  sphere 
of  religion,  so  it  did  in  that  of  e very-day  life, — in  fact 
the  kindly  treatment  of  heretics  in  civic  and  economic 
matters  was  raised  to  the  level  of  law.  The  oppression 
of  non-Moslems  (ahl  al-diimna)  who  were  under  Moslem 
protection,  was  condemned  as  a  sin.^  "When  the  governor 
of  the  Lebanon  province  once  took  very  severe  action 
against  the  inhabitants,  who  had  revolted  against  the 
oppression  of  the  tax  gatherers,  he  was  incurring  the 
rebuke  of  the  prophet :  '  ^  He  who  oppresses  a  protege  and 
lays  heavy  burdens  upon  him,  I  myself  will  appear  as  his 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  41 

accuser  on  the  judgment  day.'^^  Until  quite  recently 
there  used  to  be  pointed  out  the  site  of  the  *^ Jew's 
house/'  in  the  vicinity  of  Bostra,  about  which  Porter 
in  his  book  ^^Five  Years  in  Damascus/'  tells  the  follow-  ^ 
ing  legend.  *Omar  had  once  torn  down  a  mosque  stand- 
ing on  this  site,  because  the  governor  had  seized  a  Jew's 
house  in  order  to  replace  it  by  a  mosque.^^ 

IIL  Wliile,  in  this  constructive  period,  the  first  task 
was  to  decide  the  judicial  relation  of  conquering  Islam 
to  the  subjected  nations,  still,  the  inner  religious  life  and 
its  legal  regulation  could  not  be  ignored  in  any  of  its 
branches.  In  the  case  of  the  soldiers  who  had  already 
been  scattered  far  and  wide,  before  the  religious  rites 
and  ceremonies  had  been  definitely  fixed,  and  who  in 
these  distant  lands  formed  a  religious  community,  it 
became  necessary  to  provide  a  fixed  standard  for  their 
ritualistic  duties  with  due  allowance  for  necessary  modi- 
fications. They  had  also  to  be  provided — and  this  was 
especially  difficult — ^with  strict  regulations  dealing  with 
the  juridical  conditions,  till  now  entirely  foreign  to  the 
majority  of  the  Arabian  conquerors.  In  Syria,  Egypt 
and  Persia,  they  were  forced  to  compromise  with  the 
customs  of  the  country,  based  on  ancient  civilizations, 
and  adjust  the  conflict  between  inherited  laws  and  those 
recently  acquired.  In  other  words,  Moslem  legal  proce- 
dure had  to  be  regulated  on  its  religious,  as  well  as  its 
civic  side.  The  Koranic  provisions,  limited  to  the  primi- 
tive conditions  holding  in  Arabia,  had  not  kept  pace  with 
the  new  problems  and  were  entirely  insufficient.  Its 
regulations  could  not  provide  for  the  unexpected  prob- 
lems arising  from  conquests. 

The  worldly-minded  functionaries,  who,  especially  dur- 
ing the  prime  of  the  Omayyad  rule,  promoted  the  external 
splendor  of  the  new  kingdom,  manifested  little  care  for 
such  needs.  Although  they  did  not  entirely  neglect  reli- 
gious aspects,  still  their  greatest  interests  did  not  lie  in 


42  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  development  of  the  legal  aspect  of  a  religious  organi- 
zation, but  rather  in  the  strengthening  of  the  political 
organization,  and  the  retaining  of  that  which  had  been 
won  by  the  sword  as  the  privilege  of  the  Arabian  race. 
Established  custom  was  used  to  satisfy  the  legal  demands 
of  the  day,  and  in  debatable  cases  cunning,  and  I  fear, 
even  an  arbitrary  spirit,  was  sufficient  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  Moreover,  they  did  not  follow  very 
closely  the  rules  which  had  already  been  enacted  by  the 
first  pious  caliphs. 

This  could  not  satisfy  those  pious  people  w^ho  were 
striving  to  organize  the  new  life  in  the  sense  of  a  reli- 
gious law  divinely  ordained  and  in  accord  with  the  views 
of  the  prophet.  The  injunctions  of  the  prophet  were  to 
be  applied  to  all  things,  both  religious  and  civic,  and  were 
to  be  considered  as  the  standard  of  practice.  The  '^com- 
panions,'' that  is,  that  group  of  people  which  had  lived 
in  the  company  of  the  prophet,  had  seen  him  act  and 
heard  him  judge,  proved  the  best  source  for  this  informa- 
tion. So  long,  then,  as  a  ''companion"  survived,  his 
word  could  determine  the  demands  of  pious  usage  and 
the  details  of  divine  law.  After  the  passing  of  this  first 
generation,  people  had  to  be  contented  with  the  state- 
ments which  the  following  generation  had  received 
directly  from  their  predecessors  concerning  the  ques- 
tions prevailing  at  that  time,  and  so  on  from  generation 
to  generation  to  the  latest  times.  Any  kind  of  act  or 
judgment  was  considered  proper,  if  it  could  be  vindi- 
cated as  coming  through  a  chain  of  tradition,  dating  back 
to  a  companion  of  the  prophet,  who,  as  an  eye-witness 
had  declared  it  to  be  in  accord  with  the  wish  of  the 
prophet.  The  usages  of  ritual  and  of  law  formed  of  the 
authority  of  such  traditions,  were  sanctified  as  practiced 
under,  and  sanctioned  by,  the  prophet.  They  were  con- 
firmed by  the  authoritative  founders  and  first  adherents 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  43 

of  Islam.i  Thi^  is  Sunna, — sacred  custom.  The  form 
in  which  it  is  stated  is  Hadith,  tradition.  These  terms  are 
not  identical  The  Hadith  is  the  document  of  the  Sunna. 
It  is  through  the  many  credible  reports  transmitted  from 
generation  to  generation  that  this  Hadith  declares  what 
the  ^'companions,"  basing  their  decisions  on  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  prophet,  regarded  as  right  in  religion  and 
law,  and  what  from  this  point  of  view  should  be  the 
single  rule  of  practice. 

It  is  clear  therefore  that  even  in  Islam  the  theory  of 
sacred  ex-Koranic  legislation  could  be  formed,  that  like 
the  Jews,  Islam  too  could  have  a  written  and  oral  law.- 

Since  the  Sunna  is  the  sum  of  the  customs  and  of  the 
conceptions  of  the  oldest  Moslem  community,^  it  stands 
as  the  most  authoritative  interpretation  of  the  very 
insufficient  teaching  of  the  Koran,  and  through  which  the 
Koran  becomes  a  living  and  active  force.  Adequately  > 
to  estimate  the  Sunna  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  keep 
in  mind  the  saying  which  is  ascribed  to  'Ali,  and  which 
he  gave  to  'Abdallah  ibn  'Abbas  as  instruction,  on  his 
departure  to  negotiate  with  the  insurgents:  ''Do  not 
fight  them  with  the  Koran,  for  it  can  bear  different  inter- 
pretations, and  is  of  varying  meanings ;  fight  them  with 
the  Sunna;  from  that  there  is  no  escape."^  This  cannot 
possibly  be  an  authentic  utterance  of  'Ali;  but  it  comes, 
in  any  case,  from  ancient  times  and  reflects  the  ancient 
Moslem  mode  of  thought. 

We  need  not  conclude  that  there  is  not  a  grain  of  truth 
here  and  there  in  the  Hadith  communications,  of  later 
generations,  coming,  if  not  directly  from  the  mouth  of 
the  prophet,  still  from  the  oldest  generation  of  Moslem 
authority.  But  on  the  other  hand,  one  can  easily  per- 
ceive that  the  great  distance  from  the  source  both  in 
respect  to  time  and  extent  brought  with  it  the  increasing 
danger  of  inventing  doctrines,  whether  of  theoretical 


44  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

value  or  for  practical  purposes,  in  outwardly  correct 
Hadith-f  orms  and  assigned  to  the  prophet  and  his  * '  com- 
panions''  as  the  highest  authority. 

It  soon  resulted  in  the  fact,  that  every  opinion,  every 
party,  every  advocate  of  any  doctrine,  gave  this  form 
to  his  proposition;  consequently  the  most  contradictory 
teachings  bore  the  garb  of  this  documentary  authentica- 
tion. In  the  sphere  of  ritualism  or  dogma,  in  juridical 
relations,  or  in  political  division,  there  was  no  school  or 
party  doctrine  which  could  not  produce  a  Hadith  or  a 
whole  group  of  Hadiths  for  their  own  use,  which  had  the 
outward  appearance  of  correct  tradition. 

This  condition  of  affairs  could  not  remain  hidden  from 
the  Mohammedans  themselves.  Their  theologians  set  in 
motion  an  extraordinarily  interesting  scientific  discipline, 
that  of  the  Hadith-Criticism,  so  that  when  the  opposing 
elements  could  not  be  harmonized  the  true  traditions 
could  be  separated  from  the  apocryphal. 

Naturally  the  point  of  view  of  their  criticism  is  not 
ours,  and  the  latter  finds  a  broad  field  of  action,  where 
the  Moslem  critic  believes  he  is  producing  indubitable 
tradition.  The  final  outcome  of  this  critical  activity  was 
the  recognition  in  the  seventh  century  of  six  works,  as 
canonical  standards,  gathered  by  theologians  of  the  third 
century  from  an  almost  infinite  mass  of  traditional 
material  and  forming  the  Hadiths  which  to  them  seemed 
credible,  and  which  were  elevated  by  them  to  the  rank  of 
decisive  sources  of  that  which  should  be  regarded  as  the 
Sunna  of  the  prophet.  Among  these  six  Hadith  collec- 
tions there  are  the  first  group  of  BuJchdri  (d.  256/870) 
and  of  Muslim  (d.  261/875),  the  most  important  sources 
of  prophetic  Sunna,  designated  as  ^^ source"  groups 
because  of  the  formally  incontestable  data  contained  in 
them.  To  these  were  added  also  as  authoritative  sources, 
the  collections  of  Ahit  BdwTid  (d.  275/888),  al  Nasa'i 
(d.  303/915),  al  Tirmidl  (d.  279/892),  Ihn  Maja  (d.  273/ 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  45 

886),  the  last  to  be  added  in  spite  of  some  opposition. 
Still  earlier  Malik  ibn  Anas  had  codified  the  customs  of 
Medina,  the  home  of  all  Sunna ;  without,  however,  being 
guided  by  the  point  of  view  of  Hadith  collections. 

So  a  new  group  of  written  sources  of  religion  arose 
beside  the  Koran,  which  became  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance in  the  knowledge  and  life  of  Islam. 

IV.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  religious  historical 
development  with  which  we  are  concerned,  it  is  the  pro- 
cess of  growth  rather  than  the  final  literary  form  of  the 
Hadith  which  engages  our  interests.  Even  the  questions 
of  genuineness  and  age  are  secondary  by  the  side  of  the 
circumstance  that  the  struggles  of  the  Moslem  community 
are  faithfully  mirrored  in  the  Hadith,  and  that  furnishes 
inestimable  documents  for  following  the  ultra  Koranic 
religious  aim. 

For  not  only  have  law  and  custom,  religious  teachings 
and  political  doctrines  clothed  themselves  in  Hadith- 
form,  but  everything  in  Islam,  both  that  which  has 
worked  itself  out  through  its  own  strength,  as  well  as 
that  which  has  been  appropriated  from  without.  In  this 
work  foreign  elements  have  been  so  assimilated  that  one 
has  lost  sight  of  their  origin.  Sentences  from  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  rabbinical  sayings  as  well  as  those 
from  the  apocryphal  gospels,  the  teaching  of  Greek 
philosophers,  sayings  of  Persian  and  Indian  wisdom, 
have  found  room  in  this  garb  among  the  sayings  of  the 
prophet  of  Islam.  Even  the  Lord's  prayer  is  not  lacking 
in  well  confirmed  Hadith-form.  In  this  form  more  dis- 
tant  intruders  have  acquired,  in  a  direct  or  indirect  man- 
ner, citizenship  in  Islam.  An  interesting  example  is  found 
in  the  story  belonging  to  the  literature  of  the  world,^  of 
the  parable  of  the  lame  man  who  steals  the  fruit  of  a 
tree  from  the  back  of  a  blind  man,  and  the  application 
of  this  parable  to  the  common  responsibility  of  body  and 
soul.    It  appears  in  Islam  as  Hadith,  with  a  careful  train 


46  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

of  tradition,  Abu  Bekr  ibn  *Ayyasli>Abu  Sa'id  al- 
Bakkal>'Ikrima>ibn  'Abbas.-  This  parable  and  its  use 
was  known  also  to  the  rabbis.  In  the  Talmud  it  is  put 
in  the  mouth  of  Rabbi  Yehuda  ha-nasi,  in  order  to  silence 
the  doubt  of  the  emperor  Marcus  Aurelius.^  It  may  have 
entered  the  Moslem  group  from  this  side.  In  this  way  a 
whole  store  of  religious  legends  have  entered  in,  so  that 
in  looking  back  on  the  elements  here  mentioned  as  being 
contained  in  the  traditional  material,  we  can  distinguish, 
both  in  the  Jewish  religious  literature  as  well  as  in  the 
Moslem,  between  halakhic  (legal)  and  agadic  (homo- 
litical)  elements. 

The  eclecticism  which  stood  at  the  cradle  of  Islam  thus 
develops  into  rich  results.  It  is  one  of  the  most  attrac- 
tive problems  to  investigators,  who  devote  their  attention 
to  this  part  of  the  religious  literature,  to  seek  in  the 
varied  materials  the  widely  branching  sources,  from 
which  they  are  formed,  and  to  detect  the  movement  of 
which  they  are  the  documents. 

In  this  way  has  the  Hadith  formed  the  framework  for 
the  oldest  development  of  the  religious  and  ethical 
thoughts  of  Islam.  The  extension  of  the  morality  based 
on  the  Koran  finds  its  expression  in  the  Hadith  which 
became  also  the  subtler  medium  for  the  ethical  emotions 
to  which  Islam  at  the  time  of  its  rise  and  struggle  for 
existence  was  as  yet  insensible.  The  Hadith  embodies 
definitions  of  that  higher  form  of  piety  which  is  not  satis- 
fied with  bare  formality  and  of  which  we  have  already 
given  some  examples.^  The  Hadith  is  fond  of  striking 
the  chords  of  tenderness — the  tenderness  of  God  as  well 
^  as  of  men.  ''God  created  a  hundred  parts  of  mercy,  of 
these  he  kept  ninety-nine  for  himself  and  gave  one  to  the 
world.  From  this  flows  all  the  gentleness,  which  is 
evinced  by  man."^  "If  you  hope  for  mercy  from  me,'' 
says  God,  "then  be  merciful  toward  my  creatures." 
"He  who  cares  for  widows  and  orphans,  is  as  highly 

^  See  above  p.  20. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  LAW.  47 

honored,  as  lie  who  devotes  his  life  to  religious  war  in 
the  way  of  God ;  or  he  who  spends  the  day  in  fasting  and 
the  night  in  prayer."^  ^^He  who  strokes  the  head  of  an 
orphan,  receives  for  each  hair  which  his  hand  touches,  a 
light  on  the  day  of  resurrection/'  ^^Each  thing  has  its 
key ;  the  key  to  paradise  is  love  for  the  small  and  poor. ' ' 
And  in  the  Hadith  we  tind  teachings  of  this  kind  directed 
to  single  comrades  of  the  prophet,  in  which  Mohammed 
recommends  the  duty  of  ethical  and  human  virtues  as  the 
true  essence  of  religion.  None  of  these  numerous  teach- 
ings seems  to  me  worthier  of  mention  than  that  of  Abu 
Darr,  a  former  dissolute  ^^  companion ''  of  the  tribe  of 
Ghifar,  who  turned  to  Islam  and  at  the  time  of  the  first 
revolution  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  of  the 
party.  He  recounts:  ^^My  friend  (the  prophet)  has 
given  me  a  sevenfold  admonition:  1,  Love  the  poor  and 
be  near  unto  them.  2.  Look  always  at  those  who  are 
beneath  thee,  and  do  not  look  up  to  those  who  are  above 
thee.  3.  Never  request  anything  from  anyone.  4.  Be 
faithful  to  your  relatives,  even  when  they  anger  you. 
5.  Speak  always  the  truth,  even  when  it  is  bitter.  6.  Do 
not  let  thyself  be  frightened  from  the  path  of  God  by  the 
taunts  of  the  revilers.  7.  Proclaim  often:  ^ There  is  no 
power  nor  strength  except  through  Allah,  for  this  is  from 
the  treasure  which  is  hidden  under  the  throne  of  God. '  '  '*^ 
The  serious  nature  of  religious  formalism  itself  is 
heightened  through  claims  which  are  first  of  all  made 
in  the  Hadith.  The  value  of  the  work  (as  we  have  alreadv 
mentioned  above,  p.  17)  is  estimated  according  to  the 
sentiment  which  its  practice  arouses.  This  is  one  of  the 
chief  fundamentals  of  Moslem  religious  life.  The  impor- 
tance attributed  to  it  is  evident  in  the  fact  that  a  motto 
inculcating  this  has  been  inscribed  over  one  of  the  chief 
entrances  to  the  mosque  of  Al-Azhar  in  Cairo,  the  much 
frequented  centre  of  Moslem  theological  learning,  to 
serve  as  an  exhortation  to  those  entering,  who  are  here 


48  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

engaged  in  either  learning  or  meditation:  ^^ Deeds  will 
be  judged  according  to  intentions,  and  each  man  will  be 
rewarded  according  to  the  measure  of  his  intentions." 
This  is  a  sentence  from  the  Hadith,  which  has  become 
the  guiding  thought  of  all  religious  deeds  in  Islam.  ^  ^  God 
speaks:  Approach  me  with  your  intentions,  not  with 
your  deeds.  "^  This  Hadith,  although  of  later  origin,  has 
grown  from  the  conviction  of  the  believer,  and  char- 
acterizes his  estimate  of  religious  values.  The  moral 
effect  of  the  content  of  dogmatic  teaching  is  heightened 
by  the  development  in  the  Hadith. 

A  single  example,  though  of  the  utmost  importance 
for  the  estimate  of  Moslem  religious  thought,  will  suffice. 
In  the  sense  of  Koranic  monotheism  shirk,  ^*  associa- 
tion,'' is  the  greatest  sin,  which  God  will  not  forgive 
(Sura  31,  v.  12;  4,  v.  116).  In  the  development  of  this 
earliest  dogmatic  conception,  as  it  is  given  in  the  Hadith, 
not  only  the  outward  veiling  of  the  belief  in  the  unity  of 
God,  but  also  every  kind  of  worship  which  is  not  an  end 
in  itself  is  branded  as  sliirJc.  A  number  of  moral  defects 
have  also  been  included  in  this  category.  Hypocritical 
religious  exercises,  which  are  practiced  in  order  to  win 
the  approval  or  the  admiration  of  men,  are  classed  as 
shirk,  for  the  consideration  of  man  is  therein  mingled 
with  the  thought  of  God.^  Hypocrisy  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled with  true  monotheism.  Even  pride  is  a  kind  of 
shirk.  Thus  the  ethics  of  Islam  have  been  able  to  form 
the  category  of  ^^ small"  or  ''hidden"  shirk  (lying  in 
the  depths  of  the  soul). 

The  aims  also  of  the  religious  life  are  given  a  higher 
plane  than  in  primitive  Islam.  We  encounter  utterances 
which  harmonize  with  the  mysticism  of  a  later  date.  The 
following  revelation  of  God  to  Mohammed  is  found,  in  a 
Hadith  sanctioned  by  one  of  the  best  authorities  and  so 
generally  accepted  as  to  be  included  in  the  compendium 
of  the  forty- two  most  important  sayings:    ''My  servant 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  49 

comes  constantly  nearer  to  me  through  voluntary  pious 
works,  until  I  love  him ;  and  when  I  love  him,  I  am  his 
eye,  his  ear,  his  tongue,  his  foot,  his  hand ;  through  me 
he  sees,  through  me  he  hears,  through  me  he  speaks, 
through  me  he  moves  and  feels.  "^ 

The  legal  decisions  drawn  up  in  traditional  form,  and 
also  the  ethical  and  constructive  sayings  and  teachings, 
have  claimed  for  the  group  in  which  they  have  arisen,  the 
authority  of  the  prophet.  They  also,  by  means  of  an 
unbroken  chain  of  tradition,  trace  their  connection  back 
to  the  ''companion,''  who  had  heard  the  saying  or  rule 
from  the  prophet  himself,  or  had  seen  certain  customs 
practiced  by  him. 

It  did  not  require  any  great  ingenuity  on  the  part  of 
Moslem  critics  to  question  the  truth  of  a  great  part  of  this 
material.    This  suspicion  was  due  to  the  anachronisms^^ 
and  other  questionable  features  of  many  of  the  statements 
and  to  the  contradictions  manifest  in  them.    Besides,  the 
names  of  those  men  are  explicitly  mentioned  who  with  a 
certain  aim  in  mind  invented  and  circulated  Hadiths  as  an 
aid  to  these  aims.    And  many  a  pious  man  toward  the 
close  of  his  life  frankly  confessed  what  great  contribution 
the  Hadith  fiction  owed  to  him.    Little  harm  was  seen  in 
this  if  the  fiction  served  a  good  end.    An  otherwise  quite 
honorable  man  could  be  stamped  as  a  suspicious  medium 
of  tradition,  without  having  his  civic  or  religious  reputa- 
tion injured.    On  the  one  hand,  people  read  that  in  the 
name  of  the  prophet  the  pit  of  hell  was  prepared  for 
those  who  falsely  ascribed  utterances  to  him,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  they  justified  themselves  by  sentences  in 
which  the  prophet  is  supposed  to  have  anticipated  such 
fictitious  utterances  from  the  first  as  his  spiritual  right. 
''After   my   death   the    speeches    ascribed   to   me   will 
increase,  just  as  many  speeches  have  been  ascribed  to 
earlier  prophets  (which  in  reality  they  never  uttered). 
That  which  is  ascribed  to  me  as  my  utterance  must  be 


50  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

compared  with  the  book  of  God;  that  which  is  in  har- 
mony with  it  comes  from  me,  whether  I  have  truly  said 
it  or  not/'  Further  on:  ^^That  which  is  well  spoken  I 
have  said  myself. '  \ 

The  inventors  of  tradition,  as  is  evident,  boldly  show 
their  cards.  ' '  Mohammed  has  said  it, ' '  means  here  only 
**it  is  right,  incontestable  from  the  religious  point  of 
view,  indeed  desirable,  and  the  prophet  himself  would 
have  sanctioned  it  with  his  approval.''  We  are  all 
reminded  of  the  Talmudic  utterances  of  R.  Josua  b.  Levi 
that  anything  which  a  keen  witted  pupil  might  teach  up  to 
the  latest  period  was  as  if  revealed  to  Moses  himself  on 
Sinai.^^ 

V.  The  Pia  fraus  of  the  inventors  of  tradition  was 
met  with  forbearance  on  all  sides,  when  it  was  a  question 
of  ethical  and  devotional  Hadiths.  Stricter  theologians, 
however,  assumed  a  more  serious  attitude,  when  ritual- 
istic practices  or  legal  judgments  were  to  be  founded  on 
sucli  Hadiths ;  the  more  so,  when  the  advocates  advanced 
different  points  of  view  and  different  Hadiths.  This  was 
not  to  be  the  exclusive  basis  on  which  the  decision  as  to 
religious  ritual  and  practice,  and  as  to  law  and  justice, 
was  to  be  founded. 

This  consideration  has  contributed  much  in  arousing  a 
tendency  to  be  found  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  develop- 
ment of  law,  to  make  use  of  deductive  methods  in  decid- 
ing the  religious  standards  by  the  side  of  authentic  tradi- 
tion. The  representatives  of  this  tendency  also  thought 
they  could  best  regulate  the  new  relations  in  their  forma- 
tive thought,  by  the  use  of  analogies  and  arguments,  or 
even  on  the  basis  of  subjective  judgments.  The  Hadith 
was  not  discarded  when  it  was  thought  to  afford  a  safe 
basis  but  free  speculative  treatment  was  allowed,  even 
encouraged  as  a  legitimate  method  of  legal  reasoning. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  influences  of  foreign  cul- 
ture have  had  their  share  in  the  formation  of  this  legal 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  51 

method  and  the  peculiarities  of  its  use.  Even  Islamic 
jurisprudence  bears,  for  example,  in  its  methods  as  well 
as  in  its  detailed  enactments  special  undeniable  traces  of 
the  influence  of  Roman  law. 

This  legal  activity,  which  had  already  reached  its 
efflorescence  in  the  second  century  of  the  Mohammedan 
era,  brought  a  new  element  to  Moslem  moral  culture: 
that  is  the  knowledge  of  fikli,  of  religious  law,  which  in 
its  caustic  corruption  was  soon  to  prove  disastrous  for 
the  trend  of  religious  life  and  science.  The  political 
changes  played  an  important  part  in  its  development, 
for  they  led  the  public  spirit  of  Islam  into  new  paths, 
marked  by  the  fall  of  the  Omayyad  dynasty  and  the  rise 
of  the  ^Abbasides. 

In  earlier  discussions  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
considering  the  motives  which  predominated  in  the 
administration  of  both  these  dynasties.  Elsewiiere  I 
have  pointed  out  the  influences  calling  forth  those  theo- 
cratic changes,  which,  aside  from  the  question  of  dynasty, 
give  to  the  'Abbaside  epoch  its  definite  character,  as 
contrasted  with  that  of  its  predecessor.  Here,  there- 
fore, I  wish  only  to  indicate  briefly  that  the  ruin  which 
the  'Abbasides  brought  upon  the  caliphate,  marks,  not 
merely  a  political  revolution,  a  change  in  dynasty,  but 
also  a  profound  upheaval  in  respect  to  religion.  In  place 
of  the  government  of  the  Omayyads,  who  had  guarded 
the  traditions  and  ideals  of  ancient  Arabia  at  Damascus 
and  in  their  desert  castles,  and  were  accused  of  worldli- 
ness  by  the  pietist  group,  we  find  now  a  theocratic  gov- 
ernment, imbued  with  the  principles  of  church  politics. 
While  on  the  one  hand  the  '  Abbasides  base  their  right  to 
the  government  on  the  fact  that  they  are  descendants  of 
the  prophet's  family,  on  the  other  they  also  claim  to 
establish  on  the  ruins  of  a  government  condemned  by  the 
pious  as  godless,  a  rule  in  accord  with  the  Sunna  of  the 
prophet  and  the  demands  of  given  religion.^    They  zeal- 


52  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ously  endeavored  to  maintain  and  cultivate  this  appear- 
ance on  which  their  claims  are  founded.  Thus  they  do 
not  wish  to  be  mere  kings,  but  primarily  princes  of  the 
Church,  to  consider  their  caliphate  as  a  Church  state  in 
the  government  of  which,  as  contrasted  with  the  stand- 
point of  the  Omay>^ads,  divine  law  was  to  be  the  only 
standard.  In  contrast  to  the  Omayyads,  they  endeavor 
while  exploiting  their  claims  of  legitimacy,  to  apparently 
meet  the  demands  involved  in  this  claim.  They  fairly 
overflow  with  unctions  piety  in  the  endeavor  to  restore 
the  sanctity  of  prophetical  recollections.  Their  insignia, 
indeed,  is  assumed  to  be  a  prophet's  mantle.  They 
ostentatiously  indulge  in  pious  talk.  They  wish,  in  this 
way  to  emphasize  the  contrast  between  themselves  and 
their  predecessors.  The  Omayyads  had  refrained  from 
hypocritical  cant.  Even  though,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
they  were  actuated  by  Moslem  orthodox  belief,  they  did 
not  hypocritically  emphasize  the  religious  aspect  of  their 
office.  Among  the  rulers  of  this  dynasty,  it  is  from 
'Omar  II  alone,  a  prince  brought  up  in  the  company  of 
pious  men  at  Medina,  whose  blindness  to  political  claims 
contributed  to  the  fall  of  his  house,  that  we  can  find  the 
denial  of  the  right  of  a  government  to  exist  for  the 
administration  of  purely  worldly  affairs  in  the  state. 
For  example,  he  was  considered  capable  of  giving  the 
advice  to  his  viceroy  in  Emessa,  when  the  latter 
informed  him  that  the  city  had  been  laid  waste  and  a 
certain  outlay  was  necessary  for  its  reconstruction: 
'^  Strengthen  it  with  justice  and  cleanse  its  streets  of 
injustice.''-  This  does  not  sound  like  the  Omayyads. 
With  the  'Abbasides,  who  indeed,  in  increasing  measure 
surrounded  themselves  with  all  the  splendor  and  out- 
ward pomp  of  the  Persian  Sassanian  kings,  pious  phrases 
are  the  order  of  the  day.  The  Persian  ideal  of  a  govern- 
ment in  which  religion  and  government  are  closely 
united,^  is   the  evident  plan  of  the  'Abbaside   rulers. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  53 

Religion  is  now  not  simply  a  matter  of  interest  to  the 
state,  but  its  central  business. 

One  can  easily  imagine  how  greatly  the  reputation  of 
the  theologians  was  increased  both  at  court  and  in  the 
state.  In  as  much  as  the  state,  law,  and  justice  were  to 
become  regulated  and  develop  according  to  religion,  it 
was  necessary  to  show  especial  favor  to  those  who 
guarded  the  Sunna  and  its  learning,  or  who  disclosed 
divine  law  according  to  scientific  methods.  With  the 
rise  of  the  new  dynasty  the  time  had  come  in  which  the 
legal  development  of  Islam  was  to  rise  from  former 
meagre  and  modest  beginnings. 

To  hold  the  Hadiths  of  the  prophet  in  high  esteem,  to 
hunt  them  down  and  to  transmit  them,  was  no  longer 
simply  a  pious  exercise  in  theory,  but  a  matter  of  highly 
practical  importance.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that 
the  sacred  law  should  be  presented  with  the  greatest  care, 
because  both  the  rules  of  ritual  and  of  the  state,  as  well 
as  the  administration  of  justice  in  all  its  departments, 
even  in  the  simplest  civic  regulations,  were  to  be  in  accord 
with  the  divine  law.  The  time  for  the  development  of 
law  and  its  establishment  had  come,  the  time  of  fikh  and 
of  those  learned  in  the  law,  the  fuhaha.  The  Kadi  is  the 
great  man. 

Not  only  in  Medina,  the  actual  birth-place  of  Islam  and 
the  native  town  of  the  Sunna,  where  a  piety  which  strove 
against  worldly  command  had  cherished  even  till  now  the 
spirit  of  the  sacred  law,  but  also  in  the  new  centres  of  the 
kingdom,  in  Mesopotamia,  in  the  furthermost  parts  of 
the  state,  both  east  and  west,  the  study  of  the  science  of 
law  expands  more  and  more  under  the  shadow  of  the 
theocratic  caliphate.  The  Hadiths  are  transmitted 
hither  and  thither,  new  propositions  and  decisions  are 
derived  from  this  material.  The  results  do  not  always 
agree ;  differences  appear  even  in  the  points  of  view  and 
methods.    Some  accord  the  Hadith  the  highest  authority 


\ 


54  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

and  in  those  cases  where  contradictory  Hadiths  give 
different  answers  to  the  same  question,  one  had  to  decide 
for  the  supremacy  of  one  or  the  other.  Others,  however, 
considering  the  untrustworthy  nature  of  the  Hadith 
proof,  were  not  much  embarrassed  by  that  which  was 
positive.  They  desired  freedom  in  their  conclusions. 
Firmly  established  local  usages  and  legal  customs  could 
not  be  simply  set  aside.  The  grades  between  these  oppo- 
site tendencies  gave  rise  to  parties  and  schools,  who  dif- 
fered not  only  in  the  details  of  the  decisions,  but  also 
in  questions  of  method.  They  are  called  Maddhih  (sing. 
madhah)  which  means  Tendencies  or  Rites  but  not  sects. 
From  the  very  beginning  the  champions  of  these  dif- 
fering claims  cherished  the  absolute  conviction  that 
standing  on  the  same  ground,  and  on  a  basis  of  equality, 
they  served  the  same  cause ;  they  therefore  treated  each 
other  with  proper  consideration."*  Seldom  is  a  harsh 
judgment  uttered  by  over-zealous  followers  of  the  differ- 
ing schools.  It  is  only  with  the  increase  of  the  over- 
weening self-glorification  of  the  Fukaha  that  signs  of 
fanatical  Madhab  opinions  appear.  Serious  theologians 
have  consistently  condemned  such  one-sidedness.^  On 
the  other  hand  mutual  tolerance  characterized  the  Hadith 
formula  ascribed  to  the  prophet:  '^The  differences  of 
opinion  in  my  community  is  (a  sign  of  divine)  mercy.'' 
There  are  in  fact  indications  that  this  principle  presents 
a  basis  of  adjustment  of  the  attacks  to  which  the  diversity 
of  form,  and  uncertainty  of  the  legal  usage  in  Islam,  are 
exposed  from  both  internal  and  external  adversaries.*^ 
\  Even  up  till  the  present  day  the  view  prevails  that  the 
variations  in  custom  of  the  different  schools  should  be 
equally  recognized  as  orthodox,  so  long  as  they  claim  as 
authority  the  teaching  and  practice  of  witnesses,  who 
have  been  recognized  by  the  consensus  of  opinion  as 
authoritative  teachers  (Imam).  We  will  come  back  to 
this  later  on.     The  step  of  changing  from  one  Madhab 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  55 

to  the  other,  which  could  easily  be  taken  from  matured 
expediency,  causes  no  change  in  the  religious  status, 
and  is  accompanied  by  no  formalities.  Mohammed  ibn 
Khalaf  (d.  about  1135),  a  theologian  of  the  fifth  century 
of  the  Mohammedan  era,  won  the  nickname  of  Hanf  ash  *^ 
because  he  went  over  in  succession  to  three  different 
schools.  He  was  first  a  Hanbalite,  then  he  joined  the 
followers  of  Abu  Hanifa,  and  later  went  over  to  the 
Shafi'i.  In  his  nickname  the  names  of  the  Imams  of 
these  groups  are  phonetically  combined.'^  Various  mem- 
bers of  the  same  family,  father  and  son,  may  belong  to 
the  different  Madahib.  In  fairly  recent  times  even,  we 
find  it  noted  that  a  pious  man  in  Damascus  prayed  God 
to  give  him  four  sons,  so  that  each  one  could  belong  to 
one  of  the  four  Madahib.  Our  authority  adds  that  this 
prayer  was  granted.^  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  in  the 
biographies  of  famous  theologians  the  constantly  recur- 
ring trait  that  they  gave  their  decisions  simultaneously 
on  the  basis  of  two  outwardly  different  schools.^  This 
presented  nothing  fundamentally  absurd. 

Of  the  various  schools  with  their  petty  rituals  and 
legal  variations,  four  are  still  in  existence,  which  con- 
stitute the  divisions  of  the  great  Mohammedan  world. 
Personal  considerations  were  at  first  determining  factors 
in  leading  to  the  predominance  of  the  one  or  the  other 
school  in  particular  districts  of  the  Islamic  world, 
through  the  disciples  of  a  particular  school  obtaining 
recognition  in  a  certain  territory  and  founding  schools 
therein.  It  is  by  such  means  that  the  school  of  the  Imam 
al-Shafi'i  (d.  204/820)  obtained  footing  in  some  parts  of 
Egypt,  in  East  Africa,  as  well  as  in  South  Arabia,  and 
from  there  extended  to  the  Indian  archipelago.  Other 
parts  of  Egypt,  however,  alL  North  Africa,  as  well  as 
Spain  in  former  times,  and  latterly  also  German  and 
English  West  Africa  adopted  the  teaching  of  the  great 
Imam  of  Medina,  Malik  ibn  Anas  (d.  179/795).    On  the 


56  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

other  hand  Turkish  provinces,  the  Western  as  well  as 
the  Central  Asiatic,  like  the  Mohammedans  of  the  Indian 
mainland,  adopted  the  teachings  of  Abu  Hanifa  (d.  about 
150/767),  the  same  Imam  who  was  regarded  as  the 
founder  and  first  codifier  of  the  speculative  law  school. 
Comparatively  the  least  extended  at  the  present  time 
is  the  school  of  the  Imam  Ahmed  ibn  Hanbal  (d.  241/ 
855).  It  represents  the  extreme  wing  of  the  fanatical 
Sunna  cult.  Formerly,  up  to  the  fifteenth  century,  it 
dominated  Mesopotamia,  Syria  and  Palestine.  Within 
the  territory  of  the  Ottomans  as  they  rose  to  the  leading- 
position  of  the  Moslem  world,  the  intolerant  Hanbalite 
teachings  constantly  lost  ground,  while  the  influence  of 
the  Hanifite  system  spread.^ ^  We  will,  however,  have 
opportunity  in  the  course  of  these  lectures  to  speak  of 
a  renaissance  of  the  Hanbalite  movement  in  the  eight- 
eenth century.  The  Mohammedans  of  the  Philippines 
belonging  to  the  United  States,  follow  the  Shafi^ite 
ritual. 

VI.  It  is  now  time  to  consider  a  great  fundamental 
dogma  which  is  more  characteristic  than  any  other  of 
the  legal  development  of  Islam;  it  forms  at  the  same 
time  a  mediating  element  within  the  divisions  arising 
from  the  independent  development  of  the  schools. 

Despite  the  theoretical  uncertainty  of  usage  in  the 
theological  circles  of  Islam  the  fundamental  principle 
was  established  and  consistently  maintained  among 
Moslem  theologians,  and  with  varying  application,  which 
was  expressed  in  the  utterance  ascribed  to  the  prophet, 
^'My  community  will  never  agree  in  an  error  (dalala),^* 
or  as  grouped  in  a  later  form,  ^*  Allah  has  afforded  you 
protection  from  three  things :  do  not  curse  your  prophet, 
lest  you  be  entirely  destroyed;  never  amongst  you  will 
the  people  of  falsehood  gain  the  victory  over  the  people 
of  truth;  and  you  will  never  agree  in  a  heretical 
teaching. '  '^ 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  57 

Herein  is  declared  the  infallibility  of  the  *^  consensus 
ecclesiae/'^  This  fundamental  principle  of  Moslem 
orthodoxy  is  expressed  by  the  Arabic  term  ijmd  (agree- 
ment). In  the  course  of  our  presentation  we  will  often 
meet  with  its  use.  It  gives  the  key  to  the  understanding 
of  the  history  of  the  development  of  Islam  in  its  civic, 
dogmatic,  and  legal  relations.  That  which  is  decreed  by( 
the  whole  Moslem  community  to  be  true  and  correct  must . 
also  be  regarded  as  true  and  correct.  Forsaking  the 
Ijma  separates  one  from  the  orthodox  Church.  That 
this  principle  first  appeared  in  the  course  of  the  develop- 
ment of  Islam  shows  that  it  could  not  easily  be  deduced 
from  the  Koran.  A  school  anecdote  recounts  that  the 
great  Al-Shafi'i  who  regarded  the  principle  of  the  con- 
sensus as  one  of  the  most  authoritative  criteria  in  the 
establishment  of  law,  when  asked  for  a  confirmation  of 
it  from  the  Koran,  had  to  beg  for  a  period  of  three  days 
in  which  to  consider.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time, 
he  appeared  before  his  hearers,  sick  and  weak,  with 
swollen  hands  and  feet  and  bloated  face, — so  great  an 
effort  had  he  been  forced  to  make,  in  order  to  point  out 
the  verse,  Sura  4,  v.  115,  as  a  support  of  the  doctrine  of 
^^ consensus."  ''But  whoso  shall  sever  himself  from  the 
prophet  after  that  'the  guidance^  hath  been  manifested 
to  him,  and  shall  follow  any  other  path  than  that  of  the 
faithful,  we  will  turn  our  back  on  him  as  he  hath  turned 
his  back  on  us,  and  we  will  cast  him  into  Hell; — an  evil 
journey  thither. '^^  On  the  other  hand  he  could  furnish 
many  supports  from  Hadith-utterances,  which  were 
accepted  as  teachings  of  the  prophet.^ 

Everything  then  which  is  sanctioned  by  the  consensus 
of  sentiment  of  the  followers  of  Islam  is  right,  and  lays 
claim  to  obligatory  recognition;  and  it  is  regarded  as 
right  only  because  of  this  general  sentiment  of  the  con- 
sensus. Only  those  interpretations  and  variations  of 
the  Koranic  text  and  of  the  Sunna  are  right  which  the 


L^ 


58  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

consensus  has  endorsed.  In  this  sense  it  possesses  the 
actual  ''autoritas  interpretativa. ' '  Only  those  dog- 
matic formulae  are  in  accordance  with  religion,  in  which, 
often  after  violent  discussions,  the  consensus  finally 
acquiesces.  Those  forms  of  divine  worship  and  of  law 
which  the  consensus  ratifies,  are  exempt  from  all  theo- 
retical criticism.  Only  those  men  and  writings  are 
accepted  as  authorities  who  have  recognized  the  common 
consciousness  of  the  community,  expressed  not  only  by 
synods  and  councils,  but  through  an  almost  instinctive 
''vox  populi,"  which  in  its  collective  capacity  is  not 
liable  to  error.  We  shall  later  on  have  occasion  to  see 
the  application  of  this  principle  as  the  criterion  of  ortho- 
doxy, and  to  demonstrate  how  the  universal  recognition 
of  certain  religious  phenomena,  which  from  the  theoreti- 
cal standpoint  would  be  condemned  as  hostile  to  Islam, 
but  nevertheless  could  be  stamped  with  the  mark  of  ortho- 
doxy, can  be  explained  by  the  predominating  position 
acquired  by  this  principle  in  Islam.  The  phenomena  were 
justified  by  the  ijma  and  therefore,  notwithstanding  the 
theological  objections  which  stood  in  their  way,  they 
were  ultimately  accepted,  and  even  at  times  recognized 
as  obligatory. 

The  extent  of  this  ijma  was  at  first  confined  more  to 
the  general  feeling  than  to  a  definite  theological  defini- 
tion. In  vain  has  the  attempt  been  made  to  limit  it  in 
time  and  place  and  to  define  as  ijma  that  which  could  be 
proved  as  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  Mohammed's-^ 
''companions"  or  of  the  old  authorities  of  Medina. 
Such  a  limitation  could  not  sufSce  for  the  later  develop- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  however,  to  abandon  com- 
pletely the  ijma  to  the  instinctive  feeling  of  the  masses 
could  not  be  satisfactory  to  a  theological  discipline.  A 
satisfactory  formula  was  evolved  defining  ijma  as  the 
unanimous  judgment  and  teaching  of  the  recognized  reli- 
gious teachers  of  Islam  at  a  specified  time.     They  were 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  59 

the  people  of  the  ''binding  and  loosing,'^  the  men 
who  were  called  to  formulate  and  announce  the  law  and 
the  dogma,  and  to  decide  on  the  correctness  of  its 
application. 

It  will  have  become  apparent  that  the  germ  of  free- 
dom of  action  and  the  possibility  of  development  in 
Islam  is  contained  in  this  principle.  It  offers  a  desirable 
corrective  of  the  tyranny  of  dead  letters  and  of  personal 
authority.  It  has  proved  itself,  in  the  past  at  least,  a 
leading  factor  in  the  adaptability  of  Islam.  What  could 
its  consistent  adaptation  accomplish  for  the  future? 

VII.  With  this  principle  of  agreement  in  mind  let  us 
now  take  a  survey  of  the  dissensions  occurring  within 
the  legal  development. 

It  is  mostly  in  minor  details  that  the  above-mentioned 
rituals  differ  from  each  other,  and  one  can  understand 
that  these  differences  did  not  give  rise  to  the  divisions 
into  sects. 

Many  formal  differences  are  apparent  in  the  form  of 
the  prayer  rituals :  for  example,  as  to  whether  one  should 
repeat  certain  formulas  aloud  or  silently ;  as  to  how  high 
above  the  shoulder  the  outspread  hands  should  be  raised 
in  the  beginning  of  a  prayer,  at  the  introductory  phrase, 
''Allahu  Akbar''  (God  is  great)  ;  as  to  whether  the  hands 
should  be  dropped  during  the  prayer  (so  the  rite  of 
Malik),  or  crossed,  and  in  this  case  whether  above  or 
below  the  navel.  There  are  also  differences  in  some 
detailed  formalities  of  genuflections  and  prostrations. 

The  disputes  over  the  question  as  to  whether  a  prayer 
is  acceptable  if  a  woman  is  beside  the  one  praying,  or 
if  in  the  very  midst  of  the  line  of  worshippers,  is  very 
interesting.  On  this  matter  the  school  of  Abu  Hanifa 
takes  a  decided  anti-feminine  position,  as  opposed  to  the 
others.  Among  such  details  a  special  question  under 
dispute  has  always  impressed  me,  because  in  its  reli- 
gious aspect  it  appears  to  be  of  far-reaching  significance. 


60  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

The  ritual  language  of  Islam  is  Arabic.  All  religious 
formulas  are  repeated  in  the  language  of  the  Koran.  If 
now,  someone  is  not  conversant  with  Arabic  may  he  say 
the  Fatiha, — the  prayer  forming  the  first  sura  of  the 
Koran  and  designated  as  the  ''Lord's  Prayer^'  of  Islam, 
in  his  mother  tongue?  Only  the  school  of  Abu  Hanifa, 
which  was  itself  of  Persian  origin,  is  decided  in  the  per- 
mission of  the  use  of  the  non- Arabic  tongue  in  the  per- 
formance of  this  devotional  formula.  Their  opponents 
have  therefore  blamed  them  for  a  tendency  toward 
Magism. 

In  other  matters  of  the  ritual,  differences  sometimes 
appear  which  are  linked  with  considerations  of  a  funda- 
mental nature.  To  these  belong  such  things  as  the  ques- 
tion of  substitution  for  fasting  or  the  breaking  of  a  fast. 
While  Abu  Hanifa  is  lenient  toward  unintentional  viola- 
tion of  the  law  of  fasting,  Malik  and  Ibn  Hanbal  insist 
that  the  fasting  on  the  day  in  question  becomes  invalid 
through  the  unwitting  violation  of  the  strict  regulation, 
and  demand  the  substitution  required  in  the  law.  They 
demand  the  same  substitution  for  omission  to  fast, 
prompted  by  unavoidable  considerations  of  health.  Fur- 
thermore when  a  renegade  repentantly  returns  to  Islam, 
he  must  make  up  for  all  the  fast  days  which  have  passed 
during  his  apostasy,  by  complementary  fasts  on  ordinary 
days.  Abu  Hanifa  and  Shafi'i  ignore  such  an  arith- 
metical view  of  the  law  of  fasting. 

The  treatment  of  the  dietary  regulations  in  the  old 
traditions  afford  considerable  opportunity  for  many  dif- 
ferences in  this  branch  of  the  law.  First  of  all  the  sub- 
jective test  which  the  Koran  stipulates  concerning  animal 
food  gives  occasion  for  differences  of  opinion.  The  most 
remarkable,  indeed,  is  the  difference  in  regard  to  horse- 
^o^e/  meat  which  is  allowed  in  one  madahib  and  forbidden  in 
others.!  In  many  cases,  it  is  true,  these  differences  of 
opinion  are  merely  of  a  casuistic  nature,-   since  they 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  LAW.  61 

often  refer  to  animals  which  would  actually  never  be 
used  as  food.^  To  give  at  least  one  example  in  this  field 
I  would  mention  that  Malik,  in  opposition  to  the  other 
schools,  did  not  consider  the  use  of  wild  animals  for 
food  as  forbidden.  The  difference,  indeed,  is  practically 
eliminated  even  for  him,  since  he  stamps  as  makruh 
(deprecated)  those  animals  which  he  has  taken  out  of 
the  category  of  haram  (forbidden).  Attention  should  be 
called  to  the  fact  that  in  this  instance,  a  great  part  of  the 
ground  of  dispute  depends  upon  the  various  conceptions 
as  to  the  degree  of  acceptance  or  rejection,  or  as  to 
whether  certain  actions  or  restrictions  are  obligatory  or 
only  desirable.* 

Nevertheless  life,  within  the  meaning  of  the  law,  is 
not  exhausted  in  ritualistic  practices.  Islamic  sacred 
law  includes  indeed  all  branches  of  the  administration 
of  justice, — civic,  criminal  and  political.  No  single 
chapter  of  the  code  could  escape  regulation  by  sacred 
law.  All  actions  of  public  and  private  life  are  subject 
to  religious  ethics,  by  which  the  theological  jurists 
thought  to  harmonize  the  whole  life  of  a  Moslem,  with 
religious  demands.  There  is  hardly  a  chapter  in  juris- 
prudence which  does  not  include  the  difference  of  opinion 
of  the  various  orthodox  schools.  And  it  is  not  always 
questions  of  secondary  importance,  but  sometimes  mat- 
ters deeply  affecting  family  life.  To  mention  only  one : 
concerning  the  extent  of  the  authority  of  the  legal  agent 
(wall)  as  to  the  bride's  portion  in  a  marriage  contract. 
The  various  schools  disagree  concerning  cases  in  which 
the  wall  may  assert  a  right  of  protest  against  a  marriage 
about  to  be  performed,  or  concerning  the  question,  as  to 
how  far  the  intervention  of  a  wall  is  essential  to  the 
validity  of  a  marriage. 

The  unique  position  held  by  Abu  Hanifa  and  a  few 
other  leaders,  regarding  an  important  question  of  jurid- 
ical procedure  much  discussed  in  older  times,   comes 


62  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

under  these  legal  difficulties.  They  combat  the  usage, 
founded  on  numerous  traditions,  according  to  which  in 
pecuniary  affairs,  in  default  of  regular  witnesses  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  for  the  ratification  of  a  claim,  the  place 
of  one  may  be  supplied  by  the  plaintiff  under  oath. 
Adhering  to  the  strict  sense  of  the  Koran  command 
(Sura  2,  v.  282)  they  demand  the  witness  of  two  men,  or 
of  one  man  and  two  women,  on  behalf  of  the  claim  upon 
which  devolves  the  onus  probandi.  They  do  not  accept 
the  substitution  of  other  means  of  proof  for  the  evidence 
of  a  witness.^ 

The  investigation  of  the  numerous  variations  in 
Moslem  law,  as  well  as  that  of  the  arguments  advanced 
by  the  champions  of  the  opposing  opinions  and  practices, 
besides  the  criticism  of  these  arguments  from  the  point 
of  view  of  each  school,  forms  an  important  branch  of 
juridical  theology  in  Islam.  It  has  also  constantly 
offered  an  opportunity  for  the  manifestation  of  scientific 
acumen,  in  a  field  which  is  of  the  greatest  religious  inter- 
est to  current  Islam.  An  extensive  literature  has  arisen 
from  of  old  in  the  scientific  study  of  law,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  significance  laid  upon  this  sphere  of 
investigation.^ 

VIII.  The  prevailing  trend  of  this  legal  scientific 
development  is  of  greater  interest  than  the  details  of  the 
differences  within  the  schools  of  law.  In  this  connection 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  those  who  desire  to  understand 
Islam,  will  be  interested  in  the  question  of  hermeneutics. 
In  religions  whose  forms  of  confession  and  practice  are 
founded  on  definite  sacred  texts,  the  legal  as  well  as  the 
dogmatic  development  comes  under  consideration  in  the 
exegesis  of  the  sacred  text.  In  such  cases  the  religious 
history  is  also  a  history  of  exegesis.  And  this  is  true 
of  Islam  in  a  very  marked  sense,  for  its  internal  history 
is  mirrored  in  the  methods  adopted  for  the  explanation 
of  the  sacred  texts. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  63 

To  characterize  the  general  tendency  of  the  legal 
scientific  efforts  we  may  instance  the  following  circum- 
stance. It  was  not  the  aim  of  the  purists  to  make  life 
bitter  for  the  Moslems  by  erecting  a  wall  of  legal  restric- 
tions. From  the  beginning  they  laid  importance  on  the 
following  Koranic  injunction  (Sura  22,  v.  77);  '^ Allah 
hath  not  laid  on  you  any  hardship  in  religion/'  and 
(Sura  2,  v.  181) :  *^ Allah  wisheth  you  ease,  and  wisheth 
you  not  discomfort, ' '  principles  which  are  variously 
expressed  in  the  Hadith:  ^^This  religion  is  easy,"  i.  e., 
free  from  uncomfortable  difficulties.  **  Liberal  Hani- 
fism  is  most  pleasing  to  God  in  religion."^  *^"We  have 
come  to  make  it  easier,  not  more  difficult."^  *^He  who 
forbids  that  which  is  allowed,  is  as  much  to  blame  as  he 
who  interprets  that  which  is  forbidden,  as  allowed,"^ 
is  given  by  'Ahdalldh  ihn  Mas'ud  (d.  32/635),  one  of  the 
authorities  belonging  to  the  old  Moslem  generations,  as 
a  leading  thought  for  the  development  of  the  law.^ 

The  expounders  of  law  have  imL  been  faithful  to  this 
principle.  Sufydn-al-Thaurl  (d.  161/798),  a  man  of 
the  highest  standing  among  them,  says :  ^  ^  It  is  the  part 
of  science  to  found  a  permission  on  the  authority  of  a 
trustworthy  witness.  Anyone  can  easily  justify  restric- 
tions."* The  more  reasonable  teachers  allowed  them- 
selves, even  in  later  times,  to  be  guided  by  such  prin- 
ciples. The  following  principle  from  the  laws  concerning 
food  is  characteristic,  ^^If  there  are  doubts  as  to  whether 
a  thing  is  to  be  considered  permitted  or  forbidden,  the 
preference  is  to  be  given  on  the  side  of  permission,  for 
that  is  the  root,"  i.  e.,  in  themselves  all  things  are  per- 
missible; prohibition  is  accessory,  in  case  of  doubt  one 
should  go  back  to  the  original  basis.^ 

From  this  point  of  view  they  exercise  all  their  ingenu- 
ity to  find  a  way  out  of  the  burdensome  situation  which 
the  wording  of  Koranic  law  sometimes  lays  upon  the 
believers.    Many  a  difficulty  could  be  interpreted  away 


64  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

or  alleviated  by  liberal  exegesis  of  the  text.  The  obliga- 
tory character  of  a  command  or  prohibition  was  easily 
nullified  by  hermeneutic  rules.  The  imperative  or  pro- 
hibitive form  of  speech  serves  for  the  expression  of  the 
desirable^  or  meritorious.  The  omission  or  commission 
of  an  act,  ordered  or  forbidden  by  such  a  form  of  speech 
is,  therefore,  not  a  serious  transgression,  and  does  not 
incur  punishment. 

A  leading  teacher  of  Moslem  law  of  the  first  century, 
Ihrdhlm  al-Nacha^l  (d.  96/714-15)  followed  the  principle, 
of  never  defining  anything  as  absolutely  commanded  or 
forbidden,  but  going  only  up  to  the  point  of  maintaining : 
this  has  been  disapproved  of  by  the  companions,  that 
has  been  recommended."^  A  teacher  of  the  following 
generation, ' Ahdallah  ihn  Shuhruma  (d.  144/761-2)  would 
give  a  definite  opinion  only  on  that  which  was  permitted 
(halal).  He  felt  there  was  no  way  to  decide  what  (beyond 
that  qualified  as  such  in  trustworthy  tradition)  was 
definitely  forbidden  (haram).^ 

Many  more  examples  could  be  given  of  the  predomi- 
nance of  this  legal  scientific  view.  The  Koran  says 
(Sura  6,  v.  121) :  ^^Do  not  eat  of  that  on  which  Allah's 
name  has  not  been  invoked  for  that  is  sin.''  He  who 
looks  at  or  considers  this  law  from  the  point  of  objective 
exegesis  will  find  here  only  a  strict  prohibition  of  the  flesh 
of  an  animal  which  has  not  been  ritualistically  blessed  at 
its  slaughter."^  The  whole  context  of  this  legal  utter- 
ance ^ invoking  Allah"  indicates  a  definite  ritualistic 
act,  and  not  an  inward  thought  of  God  and  his  kind- 
nesses. ^^Eat,"  so  runs  the  injunction,  ^'that  over  which 
the  name  of  God  has  been  pronounced  .  .  .  why  do  you 
not  eat  that  over  which  the  name  of  God  has  been 
pronounced.  He  has  indeed  specifically  set  forth  that 
which  he  has  forbidden  you  to  eat."  In  this  way  those 
are  admonished  who,  on  ascetic  grounds  or  because  they 
clung  to  the  superstitious  uses  of  paganism — for  even 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  65 

paganism  had  some  food  restrictions — practiced  absti- 
nences which  Mohammed  declared  obsolete,  and  annulled. 
But  he  insisted  on  the  essential  condition  that  the  partak- 
ing of  animal  food  freely  permitted,  should  be  preceded 
by  the  naming  of  the  name  of  Allah.^^  This  is  probably 
borrowed  from  the  Jewish  custom  of  requiring  herdkhd 
(blessing),  before  slaughtering  and  before  eating.  Mo- 
hammed stamps  the  omission  of  this  as  **fisk,''  sin.  The 
unmistakable  character  of  the  custom  prescribed  by 
Mohammed  is  thereby  definitely  strengthened.  That\ 
which  had  not  been  blessed  in  this  manner  should  not  be 
used  as  food.  The  strict  interpreters  of  the  law, — of 
the  four  schools  especially  that  of  Abu  Hanifa, — apply 
this  to  the  theoretical  exegesis,  and  to  the  daily  prac- 
tices of  life.  Moreover,  those  Moslems  who  emphasize 
strictness  in  legal  acts,  consider  it  essential  to  this  very  ^ 
day.  Even  in  the  chase  (Sura  5,  v.  6)  the  mention  of 
the  name  of  Allah  must  precede  the  sending  forth  of  the 
falcon  or  the  hunting  dogs.  Under  these  conditions  only 
can  the  hunted  animal  be  used  as  food.^^  The  experiences 
of  daily  life  soon  made  clear  the  difficulties  of  strict  v 
conformity  to  such  a  law.  How  was  a  Moslem  to  con- 
vince himself  that  the  command  was  really  carried  out? 
In  most  of  the  schools  the  interpreters  of  the  law  very- 
soon  discovered  that  the  prohibitive  grammatical  form 
iin  which  the  text  was  expressed  was  not  to  be  taken. 
I  literally ;  it  was  intended  merely  to  express  a  wish  whose 
!  fulfilment  is  desirable,  but  is  not  to  be  taken  in  a  strictly  ^ 
j  obligatory  sense,  and  therefore  did  not  involve  the  con- 
j sequences  of  an  indispensable  law.^^  If  compliance  with 
I  the  law,  or  rather  the  wish,  fails  through  oversight  or. 
I  other  hindrance,  this  failure  would  not  militate  against 
the  allowance  of  such  flesh  as  food.  In  this  way  by  a 
gradual  leniency  the  principle  was  finally  reached,  viz., 
''When  an  animal  is  slaughtered  by  a  Moslem,  what- 
ever the  conditions,  the  food  becomes  allowable  whether 


66  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

or  not  the  name  of  God  is  pronounced  (at  tlie  slaugh- 
ter).'' For  ^'the  Moslem  always  has  God  in  his  mind 
whether  he  declares  it  in  speech  or  not.''  And  when 
this  conviction  had  once  been  reached,  it  was  not  difficult 
to  devise  some  traditional  verification  by  which  such  a 
principle  could  be  sanctioned  as  a  Hadith,  traceable  to 
the  prophet. 

Under  such  circumstances  they  had  the  grammar 
indeed  on  their  side.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  omission 
in  the  content  of  every  speech  appearing,  in  the  impera- 
tive form,  could  not  be  stamped  as  a  great  sin.  In  Sura 
4,  V.  3,  it  is  said  for  example,  ^^Then  marry  whoever 
pleases  you  from  among  the  women."  From  this, — so 
argue  the  theologians, — it  cannot  be  deduced  that  one 
must  marry;  but  rather  that  one  may  marry  if  one 
mil.  But  it  must  not  be  denied,  that  in  fact,  among 
many  sagacious  interpreters  of  the  revealed  word 
of  God,  those  are  not  lacking  who  have  deduced  from 
the  imperative  form  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  Moslem 
to  marry,  and  that  this  is  a  prohibition  of  celibacy. 
^^ Marry,"  that  means  ^'you  must  marry,"  not  merely, 
*  *  you  may  marry. ' ' 

IX.  The  most  marked  example  of  the  liberty  advo- 
cated by  the  schools  of  interpretation  in  opposition  to  the 
restrictive  attachment  to  word  of  the  law  is  their  atti- 
tude toward  a  law  which  is  generally  reckoned  among 
those  which  stamped  Moslem  practical  life, — the  prohi- 
bition of  wine  drinking. 

The  drinking  of  wine  is  stigmatized  in  the  Koran  as 
an  ^  ^  abomination.  "^  But  it  is  known  how  much  opposi- 
tion was  presented  to  this  divine  prohibition  in  the  earli- 
est days  of  Islam,  by  a  community  which  did  not  wish 
to  barter  Arabian  freedom  for  legal  restrictions.^""  We 
wish  simply  to  allude  to  the  fact  that  the  Moslem  poetry 
of  wine^  as  well  as  the  role  which  intemperance  and 
drunkenness  played  in  the  diversions  of  the  caliphs, — 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  67 

they  were  religious  princes, — and  of  those  in  high  posi- 
tions in  the  kingdom,  hardly  portrays  a  society  whose 
religious  law  stamps  this  indulgence  as  ^Hhe  mother 
of  all  offensive  things. '^  All  this  can  come  under  the 
head  of  libertinism,  and  be  regarded  as  a  frivolous 
violation  of  a  religious  law  otherwise  considered  valid. 

Certain  antinomian  tendencies  very  soon  make  them- 
selves felt  in  this  connection.  Even  some  of  the  prophet's 
companions  in  Syria,  among  whom  Abu  Jandal  is  the 
most  noted,  would  not  allow  themselves  to  be  misled  in 
the  use  of  wine  by  the  Koran,  and  justified  their  excess 
by  the  Koran  verse  (Sura  5,  v.  94):  ''For  those  who 
believe,  and  practice  good  works,  there  is  no  sin  in  what 
they  enjoy,  as  long  as  they  trust  in  God  and  practice 
good  works. ''^  It  is  true  that  they  were  severely  cen- 
sured for  this  exegetical  freedom  by  the  strict  caliph 
*  Omar. 

Of  an  essentially  different  order  is  the  fact  that  the 
theologians  of  the  East  used  their  ingenuity  to  limit  by 
interpretation,  the  extent  of  the  prohibition  of  other 
strong  drinks,  which  a  stricter  interpretation  had  later 
included  in  the  law  concerning  wine.  On  the  one  hand 
the  attempt  is  made  to  justify  the  conclusion  that,  with 
the  exception  of  wine,  it  is  not  the  drink  itself  but  only 
intoxication  that  is  forbidden.*  Traditions  are  invented 
in  favor  of  this,  among  which  there  is  one  which  gives 
the  words  of  the  prophet  in  the  name  of  Ayesha.^  ''You 
may  drink,  but  do  not  become  intoxicated."  Under  the 
protection  of  such  documents,  even  pious  people  have 
not  limited  themselves  to  pure  water.  On  the  other 
hand  every  effort  has  been  made  by  the  strict  to  prove 
that  "a  drink,  which  when  taken  in  quantity,  results  in 
intoxication  is  forbidden  even  in  the  smallest  measure." 
There  was  also  a  widespread  school  of  theologians  which, 
clinging  to  the  letter,  held  only  wine  (khamr)  as  for- 
bidden, that  is,  grapewine.    Other  fermented  drinks  are 


68  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM 

only  sharab  (a  drink)  or  nabid,^  not  *^wine.''  In  tbis 
way  tbey  could  issue  a  license  for  apple  and  date  wine, 
etc.,  and  open  a  wide  door  to  tbe  faitbful,  tbrougb 
wbicb, — naturally  granting  tbat  tbis  indulgence  did  not 
go  so  far  as  intoxication, — many  a  concession  was  made 
to  ^Hbirsf  in  a  lexicograpbical  process.^  Even  sucb  a 
pious  calipb  as  ^  Omar  II  is  said, — according  to  one  state- 
ment,^— to  bave  declared  tbe  nabid  as  permissible.  An 
'Abbaside  calipb  wbo  did  not  wisb  to  clasb  witb  tbe  law, 
urgently  questioned  bis  Kadi  as  to  bis  views  of  tbe  nabid.^ 
And  since  sucb  drinks  could  not  be  dispensed  witb  at 
social  functions,  tbe  treatment  of  tbe  question  of  wine 
wbicb  was  opened  by  tbe  lawyers  was  also  interesting 
to  polite  society,  especially  because  it  was  often  linked 
witb  pbilological  and  aestbetic  subjects.  In  tbe  aestbetic 
circles  wbicb  tbe  calipb  al-Mu'tasim  beld  at  bis  court, 
one  of  tbe  pet  tbemes  of  discussion  of  tbe  flower  of  tbe 
bigber  society  gatbered  tbere,  was  to  consider  tbe  syno- 
nyms of  wine  in  classic  Arabic,  as  well  as  tbe  relation 
of  tbe  probibition  of  wine  to  tbese  synonyms.^ "^  We  will 
probably  not  go  astray  in  tbe  assumption  tbat  it  was  not 
tbe  rigorous  conception  of  tbis  relation  wbicb  was  pre- 
eminent in  tbe  debates  of  tbe  bel-esprits  of  Bagdad. 
Opinions  were  put  forward  w^bicb  gave  tbe  most  radical 
opposition  to  religious  restrictions,  and  even  went  so  far 
as  to  ridicule  tbe  pious  wbo  accepted  tbem.  A  poem  is 
ascribed  to  Du-l-rumma  in  wbicb  tbe  latter  are  alluded 
to  as  ''tbieves,  wbo  are  called  readers  of  tbe  Koran. '^^^ 
Or  tbe  saying  of  anotber  poet:  ^^Wbo  can  forbid  rain 
water  wben  grape  water  is  mixed  witb  it?  In  trutb  tbe 
difficulties  wbicb  legal  interpreters  lay  upon  us  are 
repugnant  to  me,  and  I  like  tbe  opinion  of  Ibn  Mas^ud.'^^^ 
Tbe  subtlety  of  tbe  Kufi  tbeologians,  already  in  tbe 
second  century,  furnisbed  tbe  basis  of  Ibn  Mas^ud's 
tbeory.    Even  if   ^' grape  water'*   could  not  be  granted, 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  69 

nevertheless  various  legal  subterfuges  were  provided, 
which  were  made  use  of  even  by  well  intentioned  men.^* 

It  is  not  unusual  to  read  in  the  biographies,  statements 
like  the  following:  ''WakP  ibn  al-Jarrah,  one  of  the 
most  famous  Irak  theologians,  who  is  famous  for  his 
ascetic  habits  (d.  197/813),  persisted  in  drinking  the 
nabid  of  the  Kufis''  ignoring  the  fact  that  this  drink 
was  actually  wine.^*  Khalaf  ibn  Hisham,  a  famous 
Koran  reader  in  Kufa  (d.  229/844)  drank  sharab 
''drink"  (one  does  not  call  the  devil  by  his  real  name) 
''on  the  ground  of  interpretation'';  his  biographer 
indeed,  adds  that  towards  the  end  of  his  life  this  Khalaf 
repeated  all  the  prayers  which  he  had  performed  during 
the  forty  years  in  which  he  did  not  deny  himself  wine ; 
the  prayers  of  a  wine-drinker  were  invalid  and  ought 
to  be  replaced.^^  When  Sharik,  Kadi  of  Kufa  in  the  time 
of  the  caliph  Mahdi,  recited  the  sayings  of  Mohammed 
to  the  people  eager  for  tradition,  the  odor  of  nabid  was 
apparent  in  his  breath.^ ^  Taking  an  example  from  later 
times,  .which  concerns  a  famous  religious  preacher  of 
the  sixth  century  of  the  Mohammedan  Era :  Abu  Mansur 
Kutb  al-din  al-amir,  who  was  sent  by  the  caliph  al- 
Muktafi  as  ambassador  to  the  Seljuk  Sultan  Songor  ibn 
Melikshah.  This  pious  man  who,  after  his  death,  en- 
joyed the  distinction  of  being  buried  near  the  pious 
ascetic  al-Juneid,  composed  a  treatise  on  the  lawfulness 
of  drinking  wine.^^ 

Naturally  the  zeal  of  the  more  conservative  element 
was  aroused  against  such  tendencies  and  phenomena 
within  the  legal  group.  They,  "in  contrast  to  the 
liberty  deduced  from  an  erroneous  interpretation  of  the 
Sunna"  by  many,  adhered  firmly  all  their  lives  to  drink- 
ing only  "water,  milk  and  honey. "^^  As  in  the  case 
of  all  liberal  tendencies  appearing  in  the  historical  course 
of  Islam,  they  knew  how  to  bring  forward  a  word  of 


70  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  prophet  condemning  the  mitigation  here  described. 
**My  community,''  thus  runs  the  Hadith  they  quote, 
''will  one  day  drink  wine,  they  will  call  it  by  a  disguised 
name  and  their  princes  will  support  them  in  this."^^ 
Such  people  are  threatened  with  being  turned  into  apes 
and  swine  by  God,  as  happened  to  the  religious  sinners 
of  earlier  nations.^^ 

At  all  events,  the  method  adopted  by  the  widely-recog- 
nized Kufic  theological  school,  indicates  that  as  legal 
subtlety  was  more  and  more  applied  to  the  deduction  of 
religious  law,  many  an  alleviation  was  suggested,  by 
means  of  which  the  severity  of  the  text  could  be 
mitigated. 

A  great  part  of  the  ''contrasted  teachings"  of  the 
ritualistic  schools,  into  which  the  Mohammedan  world  is 
divided,  consists  in  the  disputes  over  the  admissibility  of 
such  hermeneutic  arts  and  the  measure  and  variations 
of  their  practice.  It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  establish 
the  fact  from  the  point  of  view  of  Islamic  history, 
that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  those  schools  has  in 
many  cases  brought  into  vogue  the  free  use  of  such 
hermeneutical  methods.  The  aim  of  all  this  was  to  har- 
monize life,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  law,  with  the 
actual  conditions  of  social  position ;  to  adapt  the  narrow 
law  of  Mecca  and  Medina  to  the  broader  conditions,  since, 
through  the  conquests  of  foreign  lands,  and,  through 
the  contact  with  fundamentally  different  modes  of  life, 
demands  asserted  themselves  which  could  not  easily  be 
made  to  harmonize  with  the  letter  of  the  law. 

It  is  only  from  this  point  of  view  that  the  dull 
pedantry  of  the  legal  scholars  can  interest  the  historian 
of  religion  and  culture.  With  this  in  mind  I  have,  there- 
fore, alluded  to  these  matters  of  significance  for  religious 
ethics.  The  discussion  will  prepare  us  for  what  we  shall 
have  to  say  in  the  last  chapter  about  the  adaptation  to 
new  conditions. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  71 

10.  But  before  closing  we  must  speak  here  of  two 
harmful  consequences  which  issued  from  these  sub- 
tleties, arising  from  such  training  of  the  theological 
mind.  The  one  concerns  a  general  bent  of  the  mind 
called  forth  by  such  efforts,  the  other  an  erroneous  value 
put  upon  the  religious  life  as  such,  at  the  expense  of 
the  religious  sentiment. 

The  predominance  of  the  spirit  of  casuistry  and  hair- 
splitting, especially  in  'Irak,^  was  directly  due  to  the 
increase  of  the  tendencies  just  described.  Those  who 
propose  to  explain  the  word  of  God  and  to  regulate  life 
accordingly,  lose  themselves  in  absurd  subtleties  and 
useless  sophistries,  in  devising  possibilities  which  never 
occur,  and  in  the  investigating  of  puzzling  questions,  in 
which  the  most  subtle  casuistry  is  closely  united  with  the 
play  of  the  boldest,  most  reckless  phantasy.  Disputes 
arise  over  farfetched  cases  in  law  never  actually  occur- 
ring and  casuistically  constructed,  as  for  instance  what 
pretension  to  an  inheritance  a  great  grandfather  of  the 
fifth  degree  could  have  in  the  property  of  a  great  grand- 
child of  the  fifth  degree  who  died  childless.-  And  this 
is  a  relatively  moderate  case.  Even  in  earlier  times 
laws  of  inheritance  with  their  many  possibilities,  were 
an  especially  favorite  and  suited  arena  for  these  mental 
gymnastics  of  a  casuistic  order.^  The  popular  supersti- 
tions also  offer  material  for  such  use.  Since  the  people 
regarded  the  metamorphosis  of  men  into  animals  as 
within  the  range  of  natural  occurrences,  questions  con- 
cerning the  relation  of  such  bewitched  individuals,  and 
their  legal  responsibilities  were  seriously  discussed.'* 
On  the  other  hand,  since  demons  often  take  on  human 
form,  the  religious  consequences  of  such  a  change  were 
considered,  as  for  example,  it  was  argued  in  all  serious- 
ness, whether  such  beings  were  to  be  included  for  the 
necessary  number  of  those  taking  part  in  the  Friday 
services.^    Furthermore,  the  divine  law  must  also  decide 


n  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

how  the  human  offspring  resulting  from  the  marriage  of 
a  demon  to  a  human  being,  a  natural  possibility  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  should  be  treated ;  what  in  the  laws 
regulating  family  life  such  a  marriage  entailed.  In  fact, 
the  question  of  the  jinn  marriage^ — ^marital  combina- 
tions with  demons — was  treated  in  this  circle  with  as 
much  seriousness  as  any  important  instance  of  canonical 
lawJ 

The  defendants  of  such  combinations,  to  whom  Hasan 
al-Basri  also  belongs,  offer  examples  of  such  alliances 
with  followers  of  the  Sunna.  Damiri,  the  compiler  of  a 
very  important  zoological  dictionary,  who  has  included 
such  data  in  his  article  on  the  ^'jinn,'^  speaks  of  his 
personal  acquaintance  with  a  sheikh,  who  had  lived  in 
marital  relations  with  four  demon-women. 

The  legal  subtlety  further  devises  artifices  which  serve 
men  under  certain  circumstances, — ^legal  fictions  which 
form  an  integral  part  of  the  Fikli.  They  are  frequently 
of  use  in  appeasing  the  conscience  in  the  matter  of  oaths. 
The  legal  scholar  is  consulted  for  the  contrivance  of 
*^  evasions,  ^^  a  phase  of  his  activity  that  cannot  be 
extolled  as  a  factor  of  the  ethical  sentiment  in  social 
life.  According  to  a  poet  of  the  time  of  the  Omayyads, 
^^  there  is  no  good  in  an  oath  which  cannot  be  evaded.  *^^ 
Legal  study  gallantly  met  these  requirements  more  than 
half  way.  Although  the  other  schools  were  not  behind 
in  all  this,  the  Hanifite  school,  whose  cradle  was  in  the 
^Irak,  did  most  in  inventing  these  devices.^  It  followed 
in  this  respect  the  example  of  its  master,  the  great 
interpreter  who  devoted  a  long  digression  in  his  exhaus- 
tive commentary  of  the  Koran,  to  the  presentation  of  the 
excellence  of  the  Imam  Abu  Hanifa.  Most  of  the  evi- 
dences which  he  gives  of  his  profound  legal  knowledge 
refer  to  the  solution  of  difficult  questions  concerning 
laws  dealing  with  oaths.^^ 

One  must  acknowledge  it  is  not  only  the  pious  mind 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  LAW.  73 

which  rebels  against  the  intimate  union  of  such  matters 
with  religion  and  the  word  of  God,  brought  about  by 
the  ruling  theology.  "We  shall  be  able  to  see  the  strongest 
example  of  such  a  resistance  in  the  eleventh  century, 
A.  D.  (chapter  IV).  But  it  is  also  the  popular  sense  of 
humor  which  exposes  these  theological  legal  pettifoggers 
and  their  self-complacent  arrogance  through  its  sar- 
casm. Abu  Yusuf,  a  disciple  of  Abu  Hanifa  whom  we 
just  mentioned  (d.  182/795),  the  great  Kadi  of  the  caliph 
al-Mahdi  and  Harun  al-Raschid,  is  the  literary  butt  of 
the  wit  of  the  people,  amusing  themselves  at  the  expense 
of  lawyers;  he  also  found  his  way  into  the  Arabian 
Nights. 

Secondly  let  us  note  the  harmful  consequences  on  the 
trend  of  religious  life.  The  predominance  of  casuistical 
efforts  in  relation  to  legal  religious  science,  gradually 
impressed  a  legalistic  character  upon  the  teachings  of 
Islam.  As  I  have  said  elsewhere:  ''Under  the  influ- 
ence of  this  tendency  religious  life  itself  was  placed 
under  a  legal  control,  which  naturally  could  not  be  favor- 
able to  the  propagation  of  true  piety  and  godliness. 
Consequently  the  faithful  follower  of  Islam  stands,  even 
in  his  own  view,  from  now  on,  under  the  constraint  of 
human  laws,  in  relation  to  which  the  word  of  God,  which 
to  him  is  the  means  and  source  of  devotion,  regulates 
only  an  unimportant  part  of  the  observances  of  life, 
and  retires  into  the  background.  Those  who  investigate 
the  practical  application  of  law  with  the  help  of  legal 
niceties  and  who  keep  watch  over  the  punctilious  adher- 
ence to  it,  are  recognized  as  religious  teachers.  It  is 
only  to  this  class,  not  to  the  philosophers  of  religion  or 
to  the  moralists,  not  to  mention  the  advocates  of  human 
science,  that  the  word  ascribed  to  the  prophet  refers: 
'The  scholars  {'ulema)  of  my  community  are  like  the 
prophets  of  the  Children  of  IsraeL'  "^^ 

We  have  already  shown  that  there  were  not  wanting 


74  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

earnest  men  who  raised  their  voices  in  vigorous  condem- 
nation of  this  deviation  from  the  religious  ideal  as  it 
very  early  manifested  itself  in  Islam,  and  who  earnestly 
strove  to  save  the  inner  religious  life  from  the  clutches 
of  the  hair-splitting  lawyers  of  religion.  "We  have  seen 
that  they  could  claim  reliable  Hadlth.  Before  we  can 
understand  them  we  must  undertake  to  find  our  way 
through  the  dogmatic  development  of  Islam. 


NOTES.  75 


NOTES. 


I.  1.  Abraham  Kuenen,  ' '  National  Keligions  and  Universal  Keligions. ' ' 
(Hibbert  Lectures  1882)  293. 
2.  See  for  example  Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  II  76,  25. — Ancient  traditions 
concerning  the  impost  tariff  Muh.  Stud.  II  50  note  3;  51  note  3. 
Outside  of  the  tariff  the  tax  collectors  are  given  written  instruc- 
tions of  a  positive  nature,  which  have  to  do  with  the  careful 
administration  of  the  tariff,  ibid.  VI  45,  16. 
II.  1.  <'In  the  earliest  times  the  Arabs  were  not  fanatical,  but  were 
on  almost  brotherly  terms  with  their  Christian  Semitic  cousins. 
However,  after  the  latter  had  very  soon  become  Moslems,  they 
brought  into  the  new  religion  that  implacability  and  blind 
hostility  toward  the  believers  of  Byzantium,  which  formerly  had 
been  the  cause  of  the  decline  of  oriental  Christendom.  Leone 
Caetani  ''Das  historische  Studium  des  Islams"  (Berlin  1908, 
from  a  lecture  at  the  international  historical  congress  held  in 
Berlin)   9. 

2.  Cf.  'Omar's  application  of  this  principle  to  his  Christian  slaves. 
Ibn  Sa'd  VI  110,  2.  Proselytism  is  not  ascribed  even  to  Moham- 
med. "If  you  turn  to  Islam,  it  is  well;  if  not,  then  remain  (in 
your  former  faith)  ;    Islam  is  wide"    (or  broad,  ibid.  30,  10). 

3.  According  to  Kifti  ed.  Lippert  319,  16  ff.,  Maimuni,  who  before 
his  emigration  had  been  forced  to  assume  in  Spain  for  a  short 
time  the  appearance  of  a  Moslem,  was  denounced  in  Egypt  where 
he  stood  at  the  head  of  Judaism,  by  a  Spanish  Moslem  fanatic, 
Abu -1-' Arab,  who  reported  him  to  the  government  as  an  apostate. 
According  to  the  law,  death  is  the  punishment  for  apostasy. 
'Abdalrahim  ibn  'AH,  famous  as  al-Kad%  al-fddil,  pronounced 
the  sentence  however  "that  the  confession  of  Islam  by  a  person 
who  is  forced  to  it,  is  invalid  according  to  the  religious  law," 
so  the  charge  of  apostasy  could  not  be  carried  out.  The  Mufti 
of  Constantinople  made  the  same  decision  toward  the  end  of  the 
17th  century,  in  the  matter  of  the  Maronite  emir  Yunus,  who  was 
forced  by  the  Pasha  of  Tripoli  to  confess  Islam,  but  very  soon 
after  openly  renewed  his  allegiance  to  Christianity.  The  Mufti 
gave  the  verdict  that  the  enforced  confession  of  Islam  was  null 
and  void.  The  Sultan  ratified  the  Mufti's  verdict.  The  con- 
temporary patriarch  of  Antioch,  Stephanus  Petrus,  alludes  to  this 
in  a  circular  letter:  "postea  curavit  (Yiinus)  offerri  sibi  litteras 
ab  ipse  magno  Turcarum  Rege  atque  Judicum  sententias,  quibus 
declarabatur  negationem  Fidei  ab  ipso  per  vim  extortam  irritam 
esse  et  invalidam."  (De  la  Roque,  "Voyage  du  Syrie  et  du  Mont 
Libanon  "—Paris  1722—11  270-71)  cf.  also  Moulavi  Kheragh 
'AH,    "The  proposed  political,  legal  and  social  Reforms  in  the 


76  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Ottoman  Empire    (Bombay   1883)    50-58,"    concerning  the   ques- 
tion of  the  treatment  of  apostasy  in  Islam. 

4.  Wakidi  ed.  Wellhausen  (''Skizzen  und  Vorarbeiten"  IV).  Text 
77,  1. 

5.  Baladori,    ''Liber  expugnationis  regionum"    ed.  de  Goeje  71,  12. 

6.  Cf.  de  Goeje,  "Memoire  sur  la  Conquete  de  la  Syrie"  (Leiden 
1900)   106.  147. 

6a.  See  about  such  agreements  and  their  criticism  Caetani  "Annali 
dell  Islam''   III  381;    956-59. 

7.  So,  for  example,  if  we  assume  that  at  the  conquest  of  Syria 
the  Christians  were  forbidden  to  let  the  knockers  (ndTcus)  of 
their  Churches  be  heard,  an  anecdote  told  of  the  Caliph  Mu'  awiyya 
by  Ibn  Kuteiba  '  Uyun  al-akhbdr,  ed.  Brockelmann  138,  11  ff., 
would  be  impossible.  The  noise  of  these  knockers  disturbs  the 
aging  caliph;  he  sends  a  messenger  to  Byzanz  to  cause  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  noise.  For  the  building  of  Churches  cf.  ZDMG 
XXXVIII  674. 

8.  Tabari  I  2922,  6  ff,  '  Omar  deprecates  the  use  of  violent  measures 
towards  the  conquered,  on  account  of  the  separatists.  The 
prophet  has  said:  "He  who  tortures  man  in  this  world,  him  will 
God  torture  on  the  day  of  judgment."  Ya'kiibi,  "Historiae" 
ed.  Houtsma  II  168,  11.  cf.  the  instruction  given  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  district  of  Emesa  (Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  II  14,  8). 

9.  Baladori  ibid.  162,  The  Sheikh  ul-Islam  Jemal  al-din  must  have 
had  maxims  of  this  kind  in  mind,  when  in  reference  to  religious 
equality  in  the  new  Turkish  constitution,  he  explained  to  the 
correspondent  of  the  "Daily  News"  (August  8,  1908)  "You 
may  rest  assured  that  however  liberal  the  constitution  is,  Islam 
is  still  more  liberal." 

Nevertheless  the  fanaticism  towards  unbelievers  has,  according 
to  a  precedent  to  be  examined  later,  brought  into  the  field  sayings 
of  the  prophet  favoring  the  harsh  treatment  of  non-Moslems. 
The  prophet's  command  to  prevent  unbelievers  from  giving  the 
salaam-greeting,  and  to  reply  to  them  with  ambiguous  word- 
play, has  been  received  as  true  even  in  well  substantiated  Hadith. 
(Bukhari,  Jihad  no.  97,  Isti'ddn  no.  22,  Da- aw  at  no.  67.  Cf. 
Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  II  71,  6;  V  393,  26.)  That  it  was  nevertheless 
not  always  found  to  be  compatible  with  the  spirit  of  Islam,  is 
evident  in  the  statements  of  Ibn  Sa'd  V  363,  26;  VI,  203,  3  ff. 
Other  utterances  of  this  kind  have  been  rejected  as  apocryphal, 
e.  g.  "When  anyone  shows  a  friendly  face  to  a  dimmi  (Jew 
or  Christian  ward)  it  is  as  if  he  had  punched  me  in  the  ribs." 
(Ibn  Ha  jar  Fatdwl  hadithiyya — Cairo  1307 — 118)  cited  as  an 
absolutely  unfounded  invention:  "The  prophet  once  met  the 
angel  Gabriel  and  wished  to  take  his  hand;  the  angel  pushed 
him  away  with  the  justification,    'you  have  just  seized  the  hand 

{ 


NOTES.  77 

of  a  Jew;   you  must  first  perform  the  ceremonial  cleansing  (before 
you  may  touch  me)'  "    (Daliahl,    ''MIzan  al-iHidar, "    Lucknow 
1301,  II  232,  and  further  ibid.  275  as  Tchahar  hatil.)     "If  anyone 
(Moslem)    has   intercourse    with    a     'dimmi'     and    humbles    him- 
self before  him,  on  the  day  of  judgment  a  stream  of  fire  will  be 
raised  between  them,  and  the  Moslem  will  be  told:    'Go  through 
the  fire  to  the  other  side,  so  that  you  may  settle  your  account 
with  your  community.'  "      (ibid.  II  575.)      At  the  time  of  this 
saying,   partnerships   between    Moslem    and   Jew   were   very   fre- 
quent.    The  relations  arising  from  it  repeatedly  form  the  theme 
of  Jewish  theological-legal  discussion  (see  Louis  Ginzberg,  Geonica, 
New  York  1909,  II  186).     The  fanatical  Hadith  seriously  warns 
against  such  business  partnerships,  from  the  standpoint  of  Islam. 
Every  phase  of  opinion  has  been  marked  with  words  adapted 
from  the  prophet.     People  like  the  Hanbalites  who  take  excep- 
tion to  Moslems  who  differ  from  them  in  their  social  tolerance 
(ZDMG    LXII    12  ff.),    are    naturally    no   less    hostile    to    those 
of  another  faith,  and  readily  cling  to  the  spiteful  sayings,  while 
they  endeavor  to  undermine  tolerant  teachings.     It  is  character- 
istic that  some    (indeed  his  school)    make  the  Imam  Ahmed  ibn 
Hanbal  reject  as  false  the  tradition,    "Whoever  harms  a  dimmi, 
it  is  as  if  he  had  harmed  me,"     (Subki,  Tabakat  al-Shafi'iyya 
I  268,  6  fr.   bel.).     The  leading  Moslem  teachings  have  always 
taken  exception  to  such  views,  as  well  as  to  the  documents  upon 
which  their  upholders  depend. 
10.  Porter,    "Five  Years  in  Damascus.'"   (London  1870)    235. 
III.  1.  For  example  the  question  whether  it  is  permitted  to  remove  a 
body   from   its  place   of   death   to   another   place,  is   decided  by 
al-Zuhri  by  bringing  up  the  precedent  that  the  body  of  Sa'd  ibn 
abi  Wakkas  was  brought  from  al-'Akik  to  Medina.     Ibn  Sa'd 
III,  I  104-105. 

2.  ZDMG  LXI  863  ff. 

3.  Judging  from  some  of  Ibn  Sa'd's  writings  XI  135,  19  ff.  impor- 
tant for  the  conception  of  the  Sunna,  it  appears  that  in  the 
Ist  century,  the  opinion  was  held  that  only  those  sayings  could 
count  as  Sunna  which  the  prophet  had  attested,  not  those  attested 
by  his  companions.     But  this  limitation  could  not  be  carried  out. 

4.  "Nahj  al-Balagha"  (the  speeches  ascribed  to  'AH)  II  75,  7 
(ed.  Muhammed  'Abduh,  Beirut  1307).  The  word  "escape"  is 
expressed  in  the  text  by  mahtsan.  Cf.  Huart,  "Textes  persans 
relatifs  a  la  secte  des  Houroufis"  (Leiden-London  1909),  Gibb 
series  IX,  text,  76,  17  has  mis-read  this  word  as  masiyyan,  and 
brought  out  the  strange  meaning  (Tr.  120,  23)  "car  Us  ne 
trouveront  pas  personne  qui  en  soit  chatree. " 

IV.  1.  Steinschneider,     "Die    Hebraischen    tjbersetzungen    des    Mittel- 
alters"    852  note  43;    also  his    "  Kangstreit-Literatur "    (Vienna 


78  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

1908,  Sitzungsber.  d.  Akad.  d.  W.  Phil,  history  Kl.  Bd.  155)  58. 
Much  literature  of  this  character  can  be  found  collected  by  E. 
Galtier  FutuJi  al-Bahnasd  (Mem.  Inst,  franc,  d'arch.  orient  du 
Caire  XXII,  1909)  20  note  1. 

2.  Ibn  Kayyim  al-Jauziyya,  Kitab  al-ruh   (Haidarabad  1318.)    294. 

3.  Bab.  Sanhedrln  91a.  at  the  bottom. 

4.  Bukhari,  Kitdh  al-adah  no.  18. 

5.  Ibid.  no.  24.  25. 

6.  Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  I  168  below. 

7.  Ibn  Teymiyya,  Easai'l   (Cairo  1324)    II  342. 

8.  Ibn   Hajar,  Isaba   ed.   Calcutta  II    396.     ''At  the   time   of   the 
prophet  we  regarded  hypocrisy  as  a  minor  sJiirJc." 

9.  ''Arba'un  al-Nawawi"    no.  38. 

10.  The  critics  have  sometimes  a  sharp  eye  for  anachronisms.  But 
endeavor,  in  their  efforts,  to  justify  utterances  that  in  their  form 
appear  to  be  authentic,  by  finding  means  to  set  aside  inherent 
difficulties;  even  to  the  extent  of  admitting  as  possible  anticipa- 
tions of  later  conditions  in  the  ancient  Hadith.  There  is  a  story 
in  the  Musnad  of  Ahmed  b.  Hanbal  according  to  which  the  woman 
Ummal-Darda  tells  how  the  prophet  once  saw  her  in  the  street 
and  asked  her  whence  she  came.  "From  the  bath"  (hammam) 
was  her  answer.  Ibn  al-Jauzi,  who  was  writing  a  book  of  his 
own  on  false  Hadith,  does  not  hesitate  to  throw  aside  both  the 
story  and  the  moral  for  which  it  is  the  backgrovmd,  on  the 
ground  that  at  that  time  there  were  no  baths  in  Medina.  While 
others  quiet  the  scruples  of  Ibn  al-Jauzi  in  spite  of  the  anachro- 
nisms, see  Ibn  Hajar  al-Askalani,  al-Kaul  al-musaddad  fi-l-dabb'  an 
al-Musnad   (Haidarabad  1319)   46. 

11.  Jerus.     Talmud  KTiagigd  1,  8  toward  the  end. 

V.  1.  See  Kult.  d.  Gegenw.  108,  7  ff.  cf.  Muh.  Studien  II  52  ff. 

2.  Beihaki,   Mahdsin   ed.    Schwally    392 — "  Pseudo- Jahiz "     ed.    van 
Vloten  181  above. 

3.  Cf.  ZDMG  LXII  note  2. 

4.  The  saying  of  Yahya  b.  Sa'Id  (d.  143/760)  is  very  important 
for  judging  of  this  decision:  "Men  of  (religious)  science  are 
people  of  broad  horizon.  Differences  of  opinion  are  constantly 
prevailing  among  those  who  have  to  give  decisions.  What  one 
proclaims  as  permitted  the  other  holds  as  forbidden.  Neverthe- 
less they  are  far  from  finding  fault  with  each  other.  Each  one 
feels  the  question  which  is  put  before  him  weighing  on  him  like 
a  heavy  mountain,  and  when  he  sees  a  gate  open  (for  his  release) 
he  feels  himself  relieved  of  the  burden,"  Dahabi,  Tadkirat 
al-7iuffdB  1  124.  Yahya 's  statements  resemble  those  of  El'azar 
ibn  Azarya  (b.  Talmud  Babli  Khagiga  3  b)  about  the  difference 
of  opinion  in  Jewish  law  (referring  to  Eccles.  12,  11).  "Although 
some   proclaim   as   clean   what   others   hold   unclean,    some    allow 


NOTES.  79 

what  others  forbid,  some  declare  as  forbidden  what  others 
admit  .  .  .  nevertheless  all  (these  contradictory  opinions) 
are  given  by  one  shepherd,  by  God,  'who  spake  all  these  words'  " 
(Exod.  20,  1).  In  like  manner  it  is  said  of  the  controversial 
schools  of  Shammai  and  Hillel  that  ''both  are  the  words  of  the 
living  God."  (Talmud  Babli  Eriibhin  13  b.)  On  the  other 
hand  R.  Simon  ibn  Jokhai  regards  such  legal  differences  of 
opinion  as  forgetfulness  of  the  Thora  (Sifre,  Deuteron.  48  ed. 
Friedmann  84  b,  11). 

5.  A  very  remarkable  judgment  of  later  times  against  the  Madhab- 
Fanaticism  of  the  Fukaha  is  to  be  found  in  Taj  al-din  al-Subki, 
Mu'td  al-ni' am  wamubid  al-nikam  ed.  Myhrman  (London  1908) 
106-109.  At  the  same  time  a  proof  of  the  fact  that  at  the 
time  of  the  writer  (d.  771/1370)  such  fanatical  opinions  were 
very  common  among  the  legal  authorities  of  Syria  and  Egypt. 

6.  Concerning  this  principle  see  my  ' '  Zahiriten "  94  ff.  That  the 
differences  in  religious  practice  were  very  early  objects  of  cen- 
sure, is  to  be  seen  in  Ma'mun's  discussion  of  it  in  Taifur,  Kitdb 
Baghdad  ed.  Keller  61,  and  from  a  very  important  passage  in 
an  epistle  to  the  caliph  ascribed  to  Ibn  al-Mukaffa.  (Arab. 
Zeitschrift  Muktabas  III  230 — Basd'il  al-iulaghd  Cairo  1908  54.) 

7.  Dahabi,  Mizan  al-i' tidal  II  370. 

8.  Muhibbi,  Khuldsat  al-athar  fl  a'ydn  al-Jcarn  al-hddi' ashar  (Cairo 
1284)   I  48,  Ibrahim  ibn  Muslim  al-Samadi   (d.  1662). 

9.  For  example  Ibn  al-Kalanisi,  "History  of  Damascus"  ed. 
Amedroz  311  (from  the  6th  century  of  the  Hijra)  the  Kadi  who 
is  introduced  as  an  illustration,  gives  his  decisions  on  the  ground 
of  Hanifite  and  Hanbalite  Madhab,  cf.  the  present  attribute  mufti 
al-firalc  i.  e.  mufti  of  the  various  parties,  to  whom  he  can  give 
decisions  in  each  case  from  the  standpoint  of  their  own  Madhab 
teachings. 

10.  Cf.  Kult.  d.  gegenw.  104,  13-29. 
VI.  1.  Ke7i2  al-'ummdl  VI  233  no.  4157  from  Musnad  Ahmed. 

2.  Their  consensus  can  only  be  one  upheld  by  errors;  "fa-ijma- 
'uhum  ma 'sum"  (Ibn  Teymiyya,  Basd'il  1  17,  3;  82,  10). 
Ma'sum  (upheld  immune)  means  about  the  same  thing  as  infalli- 
ble; the  same  expression  as  the  one  applied  to  the  infallibility  of 
the  prophets  and  Imams.     (See  below  V  §  10.) 

S.  wa  nuslihi.  E.  Palmer  translates:  "We  will  make  him  reach 
hell"  on  the  assumption  that  only  the  1st  form  and  not  the 
4th  conjugation  of  the  verb  said  can  have  the  meaning  of  cook, 
burn,  heat.  Baidawi  confirms  this  distinction  ib.,  who  gives  the 
meaning  ajala  (IV  stem)  to  let  one  come  in,  for  the  colloquial 
reading.  But  from  the  statements  in  Lisan  al  Arab  XIX  201 
it  is  evident  that  the  4th  form  also  permits  of  the  translation 
we  prefer. 


80  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

4.  Subki,  Tabdkdt  al-Shdfi'iyya  II  19  below.  Elsewhere  the  collec- 
tion of  Koranic  evidence  does  not  seem  to  have  cost  the  Shafi'i 
so  much  trouble.  He  finds  for  example  in  Sura  98  v.  4  the  strong- 
est proof  against  the  teachings  of  the  Murjiites  (Subki  1.  c.  I 
227)  rather  far-fetched.  Later  other  Koranic  proofs  have  been 
found  for  the  I jma-teachings ;  as  for  example  Fakhr  al-din 
al-Eazi  {Mafdtlh  al-ghaib  III  38)  deduces  it  from  Surah  3  v. 
106.  cf.  for  other  documentary  proofs  Snouck  Hurgronje  in 
^'Eevue  de  PHistoire  des  Religions^'  XXXVII  (1898)   17. 

5.  Abu  Dawud  II  131.  Tirmidi  II  25,  Baghawi,  Masabili  al-Sunna 
I  14. 

VII.  1.  Cf.  about  this  question  and  the  Koran  material  involved,  Snouck 
Hurgronje  in  his  review  of  Van  den  Berg's  "Beginseln  van  het 
Mohammedaansche  Recht"  1  art.  26-27  of  the  reprint;  ''Juyn- 
boll  Handbuch  des  Islamischen  Gesetzes"    (Leiden  1908)    175  ff. 

2.  Cf.  the  casuistic,  and  in  part  quite  preposterous  questions,  in 
Jahiz,  Hayawdn  VI  52,  laid  before  Sha*  bi.  "With  reference  to  the 
Sura  6  v.  146  ("I  find  in  that  which  is  revealed  to  me,  noth- 
ing forbidden  for  those  eating,  that  they  may  enjoy  &c.  .  .  .  ") 
he  proclaims  the  eating  of  elephant  flesh  as  permissible. 

3.  In  the  zoological  encyclopedia  of  Damiri,  the  author  at  the 
close  of  each  article  treats  the  question  of  the  legal  religious  posi- 
tion of  the  animal  in  question,  as  well  as  the  differences  in  this 
regard  of  the  madahlb. 

4.  Cf .  About  these  categories  ' '  Zahiriten "  66  ff.  Juynboll. 
' '  Handbuch  des  Islamischen  Gesetzes  "  56  ff. 

5.  Cf.  especially  Zurkani  to  Muwatta  (Cairo  1279/80)   III  184. 

6.  Friedrich  Kern  has  discussed  most  extensively  the  literature  of  this 
branch  of  Moslem  jurisprudence,  ZDMG  LV  61  ff.  and  in  the 
introduction  to  his  work  of  the  Kitdh  iTchtildf  al-fukahd  of  Tabari 
(Cairo  1902)  4-8  on  the  difference  of  the  schools.  Among  the 
comprehensive  works,  the  big  "Book  of  the  Scales"  by  the 
Egyptian  mystic  'Abd  al-Wahhab  al-Sha'rani  (d.  973/1565)  is 
the  one  most  used.  This  work  has  been  partly  translated  into 
French  by  Perron:  "Balance  de  la  loi  Musulmane  ou  Esprit  de 
la  legislation  islamique  et  divergences  de  ses  quatre  rites  juris- 
prudentiels"  (Algiers  1898  published  by  the  general  govern- 
ment of  Algeria). 

VIII.  1.  Bukh.,  Imdn  no.  28.    The  sentence  has  also  been  cited  as  a  Koran 
verse,  Noldeke-Schwally    "Gesch.  d.  Korans"    181. 

2.  Bukh.,  Ilm  no.  12;    WudU'  no.  61;    Adab  no.  79. 

3.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  126,  3. 

4.  'Abdalbarr  al-Namari,  Jdmi'baydn  al-ilm  wa-fadWii  (published 
in  extract  form,  Cairo  1320)  115,  9.  Cf.  with  this  aspect  the 
Talmudic  principle:  "the  power  to  permit  is  more  valuable," 
Talmud  Babli  Berdkhoth  60a  and  frequently. 


NOTES.  81 

5.  ''Damiri,"    '^Hayat  al-hayawan,"   s.  v.  sun  jab  II  41,  21. 

6.  The  Hadith  in  the  Bukh.;    K.  at  i'tisam  no.  16  treats  of  this. 

7.  Al-Darimi,  Sunan  (Cawnpore  1293)  36.  The  (permitted)  account 
gives  a  meaning  if  one  substitutes  for  haloX  of  the  text  the 
expression    '^ absolutely  commanded'^    as  I  have  assumed. 

8.  Ibn.  Sa'  d  VI,  244,  20. 

9.  According  to  the  Nomokanon  of  the  Barhebraeus  also,  must  "the 
name  of  the  living  God  be  invoked  in  battle."  (See  Bocken- 
hoff,  ' '  Speisegesetze  Mosaischer  Art  in  mittelalterlichen  Kirchen- 
rechtsquellen " — Miinster  1907-49.)  See  concerning  the  same 
facts  in  the  Nomokanon,  S.  Fraenkel,  Deutsche  Literaturz.  1900, 
188. 

10.  Cf.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  166,  21. 

11.  Muwatta    II    356.      See   my    article     '^Bismillah"     in    Hastings 
Encyclopedia  of  Eeligion  and  Ethics  II  667b. 

12.  Cf.  Subki,  Mu'ld  al-ni' am  ed.  Myhrman  203,  10. 

IX.  1.  This    subject   is   now  well   handled   by    Caetani   1.    c.    449.    477: 

''II  vino  presso  gli  Arabi  antichi  e  nei  primi  tempidell'  Islam." 

la.  ''Muh.   Stud."     I   21  ff.   cf.  now  also  Lammens,    "Etudes  sur 

le  regne  du  Calif e  Mo'awiyya"    I  411   (Melanges  Beyrouth  III 

275).  .         ^ 

2.  The  poets  of  the  'Omayyad  epoch  sometimes  declare  the  wine  of 

which  they  speak,  explicity  "halal"  (legally  permitted); 
Jemil  al-'Udri  (Aghani,  VII,  79,  15).  Ibn  Kais  al  Rukayyat 
(ed.  Ehodokanakis  57,  5  ahallahu  Alldhu  land).  We  must  not 
deduce  from  this  an  allusion  to  the  distinctions  of  the  theologians 
Ckhizdnat  al-adah  IV  201). 

3.  Usd  al-ghaha  V  161,  Suheili,  commentaries  of  Ibn  Hisham  ed. 
Wiistenfeld  II  175. 

4.  Cf.  Subkl  ed.  Myhrman  147. 

5.  Nasa'i,  Sunan  (ed.  Shahdra  1282)  II  263-269. 

6.  Nahid  also  means  a  drink  of  which  the  prophet  himself  partook. 
Ibn  Sa'dll,  I  131,  5.  9. 

7.  That,  however,  conscience  troubled  a  good  many  on  this  ques- 
tion, is  shown  in  the  story  to  the  effect,  that  the  Caliph,  Ma  'mun, 
who  allowed  the  Kadi  Yahya  ibn  Aktham  to  be  present  at  his 
meals  at  which  he  himself  indulged  in  the  "nabid,"  never 
offered  the  Kadi  a  drink.  "I  cannot  suffer  a  Kadi  to  drink 
nabid."  Tayfur  Kitab  Baghdad  258,  8  ff .  Ma'mun  expressed 
himself  in  the  same  way  toward  the  Kadi  of  Damascus,  who 
rejects  the  date-nabid  offered  him.    Aghani  X  124,  12. 

8.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  276,  16. 

9.  Yakut  ed.  Margoliouth  II  261,  2. 

10.  Mas'udi,  Muriij  (ed.  Paris)  VIII  105,  4. 

11.  Kali,  Amall  (Biilak  1324)  II  48,  12. 

12.  Ibn   Kuteiba,    TJyun   al-ATclibdr   ed.   Brockelmann   373,    17.     The 
monograph  of  Ibn  Kut.   concerning  drinks  there  mentioned,  for 


82  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

which  until  now  we  had  been  directed  to  the  compendium  in 
Ilcd  al-farld,  has  now  been  published  by  A.  Guy  in  the  Cairo 
Arabic  monthly  Al-MuMahas  II  (1325/1907)  234-248;  387-392; 
529-535. 

13.  Ibn  Sa^  d  VI  67  penult. ;    175,  20. 

14.  Dahabi,  TadMrat  al-liuffdz  I  281. 

15.  Ibn  Khallikan  ed.  Wiistenfeld  no.  217. 

16.  Ibid.  no.  290. 

17.  Ibid.  no.  733. 

18.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  64,  3.  7. 

19.  Vsd  al-ghaha  V  12,  1. 

20.  Bukh.,  Ashriha  no.  6. 

X.  1.  In  the  'Irak  the  taulnd  (the  discussion  of  questions  of  belief) 
was  moved  to  the  background;  the  filch  is  predominant  ('Attar, 
TadMrat  al-auliyya  II  175  above). 

2.  Ibn  KhaUikan  no.  803. 

3.  Cf.  Th.  W.  JuynboU's  article  ATcdanya  in  the  Encyclopedia  of 
Islam  I  242.  The  question  of  the  inheritance  of  a  grandfather 
was  from  ancient  times  an  object  of  legal  casuistry  (Ibn  Sa'd 
XI  100,  9)  and  of  difference  of  opinion.  (Damiri  I  351,  s.  v. 
Jiayya.)  Cf.  Eitab  al-imdma  walsiydsa  (Cairo  1904)  II  76.  The 
accounts  collected  in  the  Kenz  al-' ummdl  VI  14-18  concerning 
this  question  of  inheritance  give  a  very  instructive  glimpse  of 
the  conditions  of  the  rise  of  jurisprudence  in  the  early  days  of 
Islam. 

4.  Damiri  II  289-90,  s.  v.  Icird. 

5.  Ibid.  I  265,  s.  v.  jinn. 

6.  Sexual  relations  between  men  and  jinn  is  a  type  of  fable  which 
passed  from  the  Babylonian  group  of  stories,  through  the 
medium  of  the  folk-lore  of  the  Arabs,  into  Moslem  superstitions. 
The  names  of  persons  of  ancient  Arabia  as  well  as  those  of 
other  peoples  who  were  the  fruit  of  such  a  misalliance  are 
given.  Cf .  Jahiz,  Hayawan  I  85  ff.,  where  such  fables  are 
energetically  rejected.  Jahiz  calls  those  who  concede  such  a 
possibility  "wicked  scholars"  and  declares  explicitly  that  he 
only  cites  the  report.  (Cf.  also  Damiri  II  25-27  s.  v.  si  'Idt.) 
Examples  of  Moslem  popular  beliefs  by  E.  Campbell  Thompson, 
''Proc.  of  Soc.  of  Bibl.  Arch."  XXVIII  83  and  Sayce.  ''Folk- 
lore" 1900  II  388.  The  reality  of  such  a  imion  can  also  be 
deduced  from  the  Koran  17  v.  66,  55  v.  56.  74  (Damiri  1.  c.  27, 
19).  The  difference  in  species  of  those  contracting  such  a  union 
(with  reference  to  Sura  16  v.  74  "Allah  has  given  you  wives 
from  yourselves")  was  brought  to  bear  by  the  religious  laws  as 
impedimentum  dirimens,  against  the  permissibleness  of  such 
alliances,  but  was  not  everywhere  recognized  as  such  (Subki, 
TahaMt  al-Shdfiiyya  V  45,  5,  fr.  bel.).     It  is  evident  that  this 


NOTES.  83 

legal  repudiation  of  such  unions,  was  not  taken  as  indisputable, 
for  Yahya  ibn  Ma' in  and  other  orthodox  authorities  attribute 
the  keenness  of  several  scholars  whom  they  mention  by  name  to 
the  fact  that  one  of  their  parents  was  a  Jinn  (Dahabi,  ^'Tad- 
kirat  al-huffaz"  II  149).  Ibn  Khallikan  mentions  a  foster 
brother  of  the  Jinns  no.  763.  Cf.  also  ^'Abhandl.  zur  arab 
Phil''  II  CVIII;  now  also  Macdonald,  '^The  Eeligious  Atti- 
tude and  Life  in  Islam ' '  143  f . ;  155.  Alfred  Bel  recounts  that 
the  people  of  Tlemcen  had  it  from  an  inhabitant  of  the  town 
who  had  died  not  long  since  (1908)  that  besides  his  legitimate 
wife  he  had  also  been  married  to  a  Jinniyya.  (''La  popula- 
tion musulmane  de  Tlemcen"  7  des  S.-A.  from  "Revue  des 
etudes  ethnographiques  et  sociologiques "  1908.)  The  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  angels  and  jinn  have  the  lawful  right  to 
acquire  possessions  is  discussed  from  the  legal  point  of  view. 
(Subki  1.  c.  V  179.) 

7.  Cf.  "Abhandl.  zur  Arab.  Phil."  I  109.  We  can  here  name 
al-Shafi'i  as  the  exception  to  the  ruling  spirit  of  theological 
jurists.  His  school  proclaims  the  following  principle  founded  on 
his  teaching.  "If  an  otherwise  irreproachable  man  announced 
that  he  had  seen  Jinn,  we  would  consider  him  imfit  for  legal 
evidence."     (Subki  1.  c.  I  258,  4  fr.  bel.) 

8.  Jarir,  Dlwdn  (ed.  Cairo  1313)  II  128,  13;  Naka'id  ed.  Bevan 
754,  3. 

9.  ZDMG  LX  223.  Abu  Yusuf  was  the  first  to  publish  a  tractate 
on  such  hiyal  (Jahiz  Eayawdn  III  4,  2).  And  from  this  time 
on  this  subject  forms  a  permanent  part  of  the  practical  filch, 
especially  in  the  Hanifite  school.  One  of  the  earliest  works  of 
this  kind  by  Abu  Bekr  Ahmed  al-Khassaf  (d.  261/874)  the 
court- jurist  of  the  caliph  al-Muhtadi,  is  the  standard  work  of 
this  kind  of  law;  this  work  is  now  also  generally  accessible  in 
a  Cairo   edition    (1314). 

10.  Mafdtih  al-ghaib  1  411-413. 

11.  Kultur  d.  Gegenw.  Ill,  16  ff. 


CHAPTER  III. 
DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT. 

A  prophet  is  not  a  theologian.    The  message  which  he 
brings,   springing  from  an  impulse   of  his   inner  con- 
sciousness, and  the  conception  of  faith  which  he  creates, 
do  not  present  themselves  as  a  carefully  planned  system. 
Indeed  he  generally  defies   the  temptation  to  form  a 
definite  system.     It  is  only  in  later  generations,  when 
the  principles  which  inspired  the  first  followers  had  taken 
deep  root  and  led  to  the  formation  of  a  compact  com- 
munity, that  the  efforts  of  those  who  feel  themselves 
the  chosen  interpreters  of  the  prophetic  utterances,^  find 
acceptance,  through  the  events  taking  place  within  the 
community  as  well  as  through  external  influences  of  the 
broader  environment.     These   interpreters   supplement 
and  round  off  deficiencies  in  the  teachings  of  the  prophet, 
while  often  offering  an  incongruous  interpreting  of  these 
teachings, — and    ascribing   meanings    that   were    never 
intended  by  the  founder.     They  give  answers  to  ques- 
tions which  had  never  occurred  to  him,  remove  contradic- 
tions which  had  not  in  the  least  troubled  him,  devise 
vapid  formulas  and  erect  a  broad  rampart  of  associa- 
tion of  ideas,  by  means  of  which  they  endeavor  to  insure 
these  formulas  from  internal  and  external  attack.    They 
then  derive  from  the  words  of  the  prophet  and  often 
from  his  letters,  the  sum  total  of  their  well-organized 
and  systematized  doctrines,  and  on  this  ground  claim 
these  teachings  as  those  which  he  had  in  view  from  the 
very   beginning.      They   quarrel    over    them    and    with 
sharp-witted  and  subtle  arguments  polemicize  in  arro- 
gant fashion  against  those  who,  by  the  same  means, 
reach  other  conclusions  drawn  from  the  living  words  of 
the  prophet. 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  85 

Such  efforts  presuppose  the  canonical  summary  and 
the  definite  form  of  the  prophetic  utterances  as  a  sacred 
writing.  Dogmatic  commentaries  gather  round  the 
sacred  texts  and  obscure  the  spirit  which  originally  im- 
bued them.  These  commentaries  are  more  concerned 
with  proof  than  with  explanation;  they  constitute  the 
steady  sources  from  which  flow  the  speculations  of  the 
dogmatic  systematizers. 

Very  shortly  after  its  birth  Islam  also  enters  into  a 
like  theological  development.  Synchronous  with  the 
events  which  form  the  subject  matter  of  our  second 
chapter,  the  religious  content  of  Islam  became  an  object 
of  reflection ;  parallel  with  the  development  of  ritualistic 
speculation  there  arises  an  Islamic  dogmatic  theology. 

It  would  be  a  difficult  task  to  build  up  from  the  Koran 
itself  a  unified  system  of  dogma  compact  in  itself  and 
free  from  contradictions.  For  the  most  important  reli- 
gious doctrines  we  obtain  merely  general  impressions 
which  in  many  of  their  details  are  contradictory.  The 
religious  conceptions  reflected  in  the  prophet's  soul  vary 
in  color  according  to  the  predominating  mood.  Very 
soon  therefore,  the  task  of  reconciling  the  theoretical 
difficulties  arising  from  such  contradictions  was  laid  upon 
a  harmonizing  theology. 

In  the  case  of  Mohammed  the  search  for  contradic- 
tions in  his  teachings  seems  very  early  to  have  begun. 
The  revelations  of  the  prophet  were  even  in  his  life- 
time exposed  to  critics  who  were  lying  in  wait  for  its 
defects.  The  indecision,  the  contradictory  character  of 
his  teachings,  were  objects  of  derisive  remarks.  As 
a  result,  however  much  he  may  once  have  stressed 
the  fact  that  he  reveals  *^a  clear  Arabic  Koran,  free 
from  deviations''  (Sura  39,  v.  29;  cf.  18,  v.  1;  41,  v.  2), 
in  Medina  he  had  to  admit  that  in  the  divine  revelation 
*^some  of  its  signs  are  of  themselves  perspicuous, — these 
are  the  basis  of  the  Book — and  others  are  figurative.    But 


86  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

they  whose  hearts  are  given  to  err,  seek  for  what  is 
perplexing  to  arouse  unrest,  yet  none  knoweth  its  inter- 
pretation but  God.  And  those  firm  in  knowledge  say: 
*We  believe  in  it:  it  is  all  from  God  our  Lord'  ''  (Sura 
3,v.  5). 

Such  criticism  of  the  Koran  was  especially  marked  in 
the  next  generation  since  not  only  the  opponents  of 
Islam  were  busy  with  the  discovery  of  its  weaknesses, 
but  even  in  the  company  of  the  faithful  the  apparent 
contradictions  in  the  Koran  formed  the  subject  of  dis- 
cussion. An  example  will  presently  be  introduced  to 
show  how  the  Koran  could  supply  arguments  both  for 
and  against  one  of  the  fundamental  tenets  of  the  reli- 
gion,— to  wit,  the  question  of  the  freedom  of  the  will. 

As  in  all  other  aspects  of  the  internal  history  of 
Islam,  it  is  the  Hadith  that  affords  the  picture  of  this 
spiritual  agitation  in  the  community.  According  to  the 
Hadith  the  question  is  traced  back  to  the  time  of  the 
prophet,  and  he  is  drawn  into  the  discussion.  In  reality 
the  question  belongs  to  the  time  of  budding  theological 
reflection.  The  Hadith  claims  that  the  faithful  began 
troubling  the  prophet  himself  by  pointing  out  the  dog- 
matic contradictions  in  the  Koran.  Such  debates 
aroused  his  wrath.  ^^The  Koran,''  he  says,  *^was  not 
revealed  so  that  you  should  fight  one  part  as  a  weapon 
against  another,  as  earlier  people  did  with  the  revela- 
tions of  their  prophets.  In  the  Koran  rather,  one  thing 
corroborates  the  other.  Act  according  to  that  which  you 
understand;  that  which  arouses  perplexity  in  you,  take 
on  faith.  "^ 

The  view  of  the  naive  believer  is  announced  as  the 
word  of  the  prophet.    Such  is  the  Hadith 's  method. 

II.  It  was  partly  owing  to  political  conditions,  and 
partly  to  the  impelling  effect  of  external  contact  that 
the  group  of  earlier  adherents,  little  accustomed  to 
dogmatic  subtleties,  was  forced  to  take  a  stand  in  regard 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  ^ 

to  the  questions  to  which  the  Koran  gives  no  direct  or 
definite  answer. 

As  a  proof  that  it  was  the  political  situation  which 
gave  rise  to  the  internal  dogmatic  issues,  we  may  point 
to  the  Omayyad  revolution  which  offered  the  first  occa- 
sion in  the  history  of  Islam,  to  pass  beyond  the  discussion 
of  new  political  conditions  and  public  law,  to  the  domain 
of  theology  and  to  decide  from  the  viewpoint  of  religious 
requirements,  the  constitution  of  the  organization. 

At  this  stage  we  must  once  more  come  back  to  a  point 
in  the  earlier  history  of  Islam  that  we  have  already 
touched  upon  in  the  preceding  chapter,  namely  the  ques- 
tion of  the  religious  character  of  the  Omayyad  rule. 
The  view  formerly  current  regarding  the  relationship  of 
the  Omayyads  to  the  religion  of  Islam  may  now  be 
regarded  as  entirely  set  aside.  Following  Islamic  his- 
torical traditions,  the  Omayyads  and  the  spirit  of  their 
government  were  formerly  harshly  contrasted  with  the 
religious  requirements  of  Islam.  The  rulers  of  this 
dynasty,  its  governors  and  government  officials,  were 
represented  as  heirs  of  the  old  enemies  of  rising  Islam, 
against  which  the  old  spirit,  of  the  Koreish  hostility,  or 
at  least  of  indifference  toward  Islam,  revived  in  new 

forms. 

To  be  sure  they  were  not  pietists  and  strict  observers. 
The  life  at  their  court  did  not  accord  in  every  thing  with 
that  narrowing,  self-denying  standard  which  the  pious 
expected  the  heads  of  the  Moslem  state  to  uphold,  and 
the  details  of  which  they  proclaimed  in  their  Hadiths  as 
laws  imposed  by  the  prophet.  While  it  is  true  that 
stories  of  the  details  of  the  pious  practices  of  some  of 
them  have  come  down  to  us,^  they  surely  would  not  come 
up  to  the  standard  of  the  pietists  whom  the  Medina 
government  under  Abu  Bekr  and  ^Omar  held  up  as 
ideals. 

We  cannot  deny  to  them  the  consciousness  that  they 


88  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

stood  as  Caliphs  or  Imams  at  tlie  head  of  a  kingdom 
built  up  on  the  basis  of  religious  revolution,  and  that 
they  regarded  themselves  as  faithful  followers  of  Islam.^ 
To  be  sure,  there  is  a  wide  gulf  between  their  ideas  of 
the  government  of  the  Islamic  state,  and  the  pietistic 
expectations  of  the  strict  observers  who  witnessed  their 
deeds  with  impotent  displeasure,  and  to  whose  partisans 
we  owe  to  a  great  extent  the  transmission  of  their  his- 
tory. In  the  estimation  of  '' readers  of  the  Koran''  they 
failed  to  comprehend  their  duty  to  Islam.  Their  idea 
was  to  lead  Islam  into  new  paths.  One  of  their  strongest 
advocates,— the  ill-famed  Hajaj  ibn  Yusuf,— reflects 
their  attitude  when  he  makes  a  scoffing  remark  about  the 
**ancien  regime"  by  the  sick-bed  of  'Omar's  son.^ 

It  is  undoubtedly  a  new  system  which  enters  with 
them.  The  Omayyads  frankly  viewed  Islam  ''from  the 
political  side  by  which  he  had  united  the  Arabians  and 
led  them  to  the  conquest  of  the  world.  "^  The  satisfac- 
tion which  they  find  in  the  religion  is  largely  based  on 
the  fact  that  through  Islam  "great  fame  has  been 
attained,  the  rank  and  the  inheritance  of  the  people  have 
been  secured."^  They  considered  it  their  task,  as  rulers, 
to  maintain  and  spread,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  this 
political  power  of  Islam,  and  in  this  way  rendered  a 
service  to  religion.  Whoever  opposes  them  is  treated  as 
a  rebel  against  Islam,  much  as  the  Israelite  King  Ahab 
treated  the  zealous  prophets  as  "okher  Jisra'el," 
troubler  of  Israel  (I  Kings,  18 :17).  When  they  are  fight- 
ing insurgents,  who  base  their  revolt  on  religious 
grounds,  they  are  convinced  that  they  are  dutifully  using 
the  sword  to  punish  the  enemies  of  Islam,  in  the  interests 
of  Islamic  progress  and  stability.^  Even  when  they 
attacked  sacred  cities,  and  directed  their  missiles  against 
the  Ka'  ba,  an  act  which  for  centuries  their  pious  enemies 
laid  at  their  door  as  a  heinous  profanation,  they  them- 
selves believed  that  whenever  the  needs   of  the  state 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  89 

demanded  it,  the  enemies  of  Islam  should  be  punished, 
and  the  revolutionary  movements,  directed  against  the 
unity,  and  the  internal  power  of  the  state,  should  be 
quelledJ  All  those  who  in  any  way  disturbed  the  unity 
of  the  state,  consolidated  by  the  statesmanship  of  this 
caliphate,  w^ere  regarded  by  it  as  enemies  of  Islam.  In 
spite  of  all  their  partiality  for  the  prophet's  family 
the  proof  of  which  Lammens,  in  his  recent  work  on 
Mu^awiyya's^  dynasty,  was  the  first  to  collect,  they  oppose 
the  ^Aliite  pretenders,  who  were  threatening  their  state.  \y 
They  do  not  shun  the  day  of  Kerbela,  whose  bloody  field ' 
furnishes  to  the  present  time  the  subject  of  martyr- 
ologies  of  their  bitter  Shiitic  opponents. 

The  interests  of  Islam  were  not  to  be  separated  from 
those  of  the  state.  The  attainment  of  power  was  identical 
with  religious  success.  Their  faithful  followers  appre- 
ciated their  acts  as  performed  in  the  interest  of  Islam. 
In  the  panegyrics  of  the  poets  belonging  to  their  group 
they  are  continually  celebrated  as  the  defenders  of  Islam. 
Among  their  partisans  there  were  groups  who  even 
went  so  far  as  to  attach  to  their  person  the  same  reli- 
gious sanctification  which  the  champions  of  the  rights 
of  the  family  of  the  prophet  ascribed  to  the  ^Allite 
pretenders,  by  virtue  of  their  holy  descent.^ 

This  was  not  the  view  of  those  pious  people  who 
dreamt  of  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world  and  who  under 
various  pretexts  opposed  the  Omayyad  dynasty  and  the 
spirit  of  its  government.  According  to  the  judgment 
of  most  of  them  this  dynasty  rested  on  a  sin  that 
became  a  hereditary  element.  The  new  government 
was  unlawful  and  irreligious  in  the  eyes  of  those  dream- 
ers. It  did  not  accord  with  their  theocratic  ideals,  and 
appeared  a  hindrance  to  the  practical  realization  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  for  which  they  were  striving.  In  its 
very  beginnings  it  curtailed  the  rights  of  the  holy  family 
of  the  prophet  and  in  its   political   activities   showed 


90  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

itself  absolutely  reckless  toward  the  sanctuaries  of 
Islam.  .Moreover  in  the  estimation  of  the  pious,  the 
rulers  of  this  dynasty  did  not  in  their  personal  bearing, 
rigidly  conform  to  the  ideal  law  of  Islam,  and  were 
regarded  as  people,  ^^who,''  as  the  first  ^Aliite  pre- 
tender Husein,  the  grandson  of  the  prophet  is  reported 
to  have  said,  ' '  obey  Satan,  and  forsake  God,  are  publicly 
corrupt,  thwart  divine  commands,  appropriate  to  them- 
selves an  unlawful  share  of  the  booty  of  war,^^  permit 
that  which  is  forbidden  by  God,  and  forbid  that  which 
is  permitted  by  him.''^^  They  forsake  the  sacred  Sunna 
and  issue  arbitrary  decrees,  that  run  counter  to  religious 
ordinances.^^ 

The  imperative  demand  of  the  irreconcilable  religious 
party  was,  that  such  people  should  be  strenuously 
opposed,  or  that  at  least  every  sign  of  recognition 
of  their  rule  should  be  passively  withheld.  It  was 
easy  to  maintain  such  a  position,  but  all  the  more 
difficult  to  convert  the  theory  into  practice.  How- 
ever, the  welfare  of  the  state,  and  the  interest  of 
the  religious  community  being  regarded  as  the  first 
concern,  it  was  imperative  to  avoid  all  agitation,  and 
therefore  to  endure  the  existing  government.  Their 
appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God,  expressed  in  pious 
curses,^^  proved  an  impotent  weapon.  That  which  God 
tolerates,  man  may  not  oppose.  He  may  cling  to  the 
hope  that  God  will  in  the  future  fill  with  righteousness 
the  world  which  now  is  filled  with  unrighteousness.  Out 
of  these  silent  hopes  arose  the  Mahdi  idea,  the  firm  belief 
in  the  future  resurrection  of  a  theocratic  ruler  divinely 
guided  {as  a  reconciliation  between  the  actual  and  the 
ideal).    We  will  return  to  this  later  on.    (Chapter  V,  12.) 

One  of  the  external  indications  of  authority  in  Islam 
was  a  function  connected  with  the  theocratic  character  of 
the  prince, — the  function  which  the  ruler  or  his  substitute 
fulfilled  as  leader  in  public  worship, — i.  e.,  of  the  Imam, 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  91 

the  liturgical  head.  However  much  it  might  irritate  the 
pious  to  behold  the  representative  of  godlessness  in  this 
sacred  role, — from  which  a  state  of  intoxication  even  did 
not  debar  them, — they  reconciled  themselves  to  it.  It 
was  permissible,  in  the  interests  of  peace  in  the  state,  to 
perform  one's  saldt  (prayer)  standing  behind  the  pious 
and  the  evil-doer.  On  this  formula  the  tolerance  of  the 
pious  was  based. 

But  they  did  not  aU  stop  at  this  passive  attitude.  The 
question  had  to  be  adjusted  on  principle  also.  The 
experiences  of  daily  life,  the  convictions  of  the  irreconcil- 
able advocates  of  religious  demands,  forced  into  prom- 
inence the  question  as  to  whether  it  was  altogether  right 
to  exclude  entirely  from  the  faith  the  transgressor  of 
law  and  to  regard  oneself  as  forced  to  submit  to  power. 
They  are,  after  all,  Moslems  who  confess  God  and  the 
prophet  with  their  hearts  as  well  as  their  lips.  It  is  true, 
they  are  guilty  of  infringing  the  law  which  was  looked 
upon  as  disobedience  and  insubordination,  nevertheless, 
they  are  believers.  A  large  party  answered  this  question 
in  a  sense  which  accorded  much  more  with  the  demands 
of  actual  conditions,  than  the  average  standpoint  of 
passive  tolerance.  They  advanced  the  theory  that  it  is  a 
question  of  confession.  To  the  believer  practices  can- 
not be  harmful,  any  more  than  lawful  deeds  can  be  of  use 
to  the  unbeliever.  Fiat  applicatio.  The  Omayyads,  then, 
must  be  looked  upon  as  truly  good  Moslems ;  they  were 
to  be  recognized  as  ahl  al-hihla,  included  among  the 
people  who  turn  toward  the  Kibla  (the  Ka'ba  in  Mecca) 
in  prayer,  and  who  thereby  confess  themselves,  as  of  the 
company  of  the  true  believers.  The  scruples  of  the  pious, 
it  was  held,  were  quite  without  foundation. 

The  party,  whose  followers  theoretically  set  up  this 
tolerant  teaching,  called  themselves  Miirji'a}^  The  word 
means  ''postponers,''  that  is  to  say  they  did  not  pretend 
to  judge  the  fate  of  men,  but  left  it  to  God  to  sit  in 


92  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

judgment  on  them.^^  As  to  their  temporal  relations  they 
were  satisfied  with  the  knowledge  of  their  incorporation 
in  the  community  of  the  faithful.^^ 

A  similar  tolerant  judgment  had  already  prevailed  in 
an  earlier  period  of  internal  strife,  when  those  debating, 
at  the  time,  the  stormy  question  as  to  whether  'Othman 
or  ^Ali  were  to  be  regarded  as  orthodox  or  sinner,  and 
in  the  latter  case  unworthy  of  the  caliphate,  did  not 
take  a  partisan  attitude  but  left  the  decision  of  the 
question  to  God.^"^ 

Such  a  modest  view  naturally  did  not  suit  the  pious 
element  who  saw  vain  ungodliness  and  disgrace  in  the 
ruling  politics  of  the  state  and  in  those  who  advocated 
them.  Moreover  the  indulgent  views  of  the  Murjis 
were  in  direct  opposition  to  those  of  the  followers  of  the 
^Allite  claims,  with  their  idea  of  a  theocratic  state, 
founded  on  divine  right  and  to  be  ruled  by  the  family 
of  the  prophet.  For  this  reason  the  Murjis  and  the 
followers  of  *Ali  stand  in  sharp  opposition  to  one 
another.^ ^  The  opposition  to  another  seditious  move- 
ment was  much  more  decisive.  As  the  successes  of  the 
Omayyads  increased  and  the  objections  of  the  opposing 
party  culminated,  certain  of  the  Murji'  partisans  took 
occasion  to  define  their  principles,  to  go  one  step 
farther  in  their  declarations  and  definitely  to  waive  the 
charge  of  heresy  against  the  ruling  dynasty.  This  was 
all  the  more  possible  since  the  Kharijites  (to  be  men- 
tioned again  later — Chapter  V,  2),  the  bitterest  political 
opponents  of  the  existing  form  of  government,  were 
troubling  the  kingdom  with  the  rebellious  assertion  that 
it  was  not  simply  a  question  of  general  belief,  but  that 
the  commission  of  serious  transgressions  should  merci- 
lessly exclude  men  from  the  faith.  What  then  shall  be 
said  for  the  poor  Omayyads,  who  were  considered  by 
the  KHiarijites  as  the  worst  legal  transgressors?^^ 

The  reason  for  the  origin  of  this  dissension,  which  goes 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  93 

back  to  the  early  days  of  Islam,  though  a  definite  date 
cannot  be  set  for  it,  is  accordingly  to  be  found  in  the 
peculiarity  of  the  political  form  and  in  the  position  which 
the  various  social  strata  of  the  Moslem  people  adopted  // 
in  regard  to  it.  The  discussion  of  the  question  as  to  what 
role  should  be  accorded  to  the  'amal, — works, — in  the 
qualification  of  a  Moslem  as  such,  did  not  arise  first  of 
all  from  any  dogmatic  need.^^ 

A  time,  however,  came  in  which  the  state  is  no  longer 
primarily  interested  in  the  answer  to  this  question.  It 
thereupon  becomes  a  question  of  common  academic 
interest  and  further  complicated  by  the  addition  of  some 
dogmatic  minutiae  and  subtleties.  If  ^Svorks''  do  not 
form  a  necessary  element  in  the  definition  of  ortho- 
doxy,— say  the  opponents, — then  a  hair-splitting  Murji^ 
might  conclude  that  a  person  could  not  be  branded  as  a 
kafir  because  he  bows  before  the  sun :  such  a  deed  is  only 
a  sign  of  unbelief,  not  unbelief  in  itself  (kufr).-^ 

One  particular  question  of  dogmatic  difference  about 
which  the  Islamic  theologians  were  constantly  indulging 
in  sophistries,  developed  from  the  Murji'ite  mode  of 
thought:  is  it  possible  to  distinguish  iri~the  true  faith, 
between  an  accurately  graded  more  or  less  I  Naturally 
according  to  the  opinion  of  the  people  who  do  not  regard 
practice  as  an  integral  part  of  Islamic  qualifications,  such 
a  distinction  does  not  hold.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
extent.  Belief  cannot  be  measured  by  ells,  nor  can  it  be 
weighed  in  the  balance.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who 
consider  practice  as  well  as  confession,  a  necessary  ele- 
ment in  the  definition  of  a  true  Moslem,  admit  the  possi- 
bility of  an  arithmetic  measurement  of  the  extent  of 
belief.  The  Koran  itself,  indeed,  speaks  of  the  'increase 
of  belief  ^^  (Sura  3,  v.  167;  8,  v.  2;  9,  v.  125)  and  of 
guidance  (Sura  47,  v.  19).  The  larger  or  smaller  extent 
of  belief  is  measured  by  the  larger  or  smaller  amount  of 
*  *  works. '  ^    Orthodox  Islamic  theology  is  not  theoretically 


94  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

a  unit  on  this  question.  Side  by  side  with  dogmatists 
who  wish  to  hear  nothing  concerning  a  plus  or  minus 
in  relation  to  belief,  there  are  also  those  who  hold  to  the 
formula :  ^  ^  Faith  is  confession  and  works,  it  can  be  there- 
fore added  to  or  diminished. ' '^^  It  depends  indeed  on 
the  direction  of  one's  orthodoxy.  Thus  a  controversial 
question  which  arose  on  political  ground  ended  in  such 
finesses  as  these.^^ 

III.  Nevertheless  about  the  same  time  there  arose  in 
connection  with  another  question,  the  beginnings  of  truly 
dogmatic  interest.  In  general  those  discussing  these 
questions  did  not  indulge  in  sophistries  as  to  whether 
this  or  that  person  could  be  regarded  as  a  true  believer. 
They  maintained,  however,  with  an  extraordinarily 
definite  view  of  their  own  beliefs,  a  very  definite  position 
toward  the  naive  beliefs  of  the  people  not  given  to 
reflection. 

The  first  unsettling  of  naive  belief  in  Islam  is  not 
contemporaneous  with  the  entrance  of  scientific  specula- 
tion, as  though  a  result  of  the  latter.  It  is  not  due  to 
growing  intellectualism.  It  appears,  rather,  to  have  been 
called  forth  through  a  deeper  insight  into  questions  of 
belief:  through  piety,  and  not  through  unrestrained 
thought. 

The  idea  of  absolute  dependence  had  given  rise  to  the 
grossest  representations  of  the  deity.  Allah  is  an  unre- 
strained potentate:  ^4ie  cannot  be  questioned  as  to 
what  he  does''  (Sura  21,  v.  23).  Man  is  a  plaything  in 
his  hands,  without  a  will  of  his  own.  One  must  be  con- 
vinced that  the  will  of  Allah  cannot  be  measured  by 
human  will,  bounded  by  limitations  of  all  kinds,  and  that 
human  ability  crumples  into  nothing  beside  the  unlimited 
will  of  Allah  and  his  absolute  power.  This  power  of 
Allah  dominates  the  human  will.  Man  can  wish  only 
where  Allah  guides  his  will;  and  this  is  true  also  with 
regard  to  his  moral  acts.     Concerning  these  his  will  is 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  ^ 

determined  by  the  almighty  power  and  eternal  decree  of 
God. 

But  the  faithful  must  clearly  understand  that  Allah 
does  not  constrain  man.  They  must  not  imagine  him  as 
zalim,  unjust  or  tyrannical  or  exerting  such  power  as 
would  mar  the  conception  of  even  a  human  ruler.  Indeed, 
it  is  in  connection  with  reward  and  punishment  that  the 
Koran  repeatedly  asserts  that  Allah  does  no  injustice 
toward  anyone,  not  even  so  much  as  a  fibre  of  a  date 
(kernel)  (Sura  4,  v.  52)  or  ^^as  a  pit  in  the  seed''  (v. 
123)  ;  ^Hhat  he  lays  no  burden  on  anyone  which  cannot 
be  borne ;  that  he  has  a  book  which  speaks  the  truth,  and 
no  injustice  will  reach  them"  (Sura  23,  v.  64).  ^^And 
Allah  has  created  heaven  and  earth  in  truth,  and  in 
order  to  reward  each  soul  according  to  what  it  deserves, 
and  injustice  shall  not  reach  them''  (Sura  45,  v.  21). 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pious  man  must  raise  the 
question  whether  there  can  be  a  greater  injustice  than 
to  punish  actions,  the  definite  will  to  perform  which  does 
not  lie  within  the  range  of  human  ability;  is  it  conceiv- 
able that  God  should  rob  man  of  all  freedom  and  self- 
determination  in  action,  determine  his  behaviour  even 
to  the  smallest  details,  take  from  the  sinner  the  possi- 
bility of  doing  good,  ^^seal  up  his  heart,  spread  a  thick 
covering  over  his  sight  and  hearing"  (Sura  2,  v.  6)  and 
then  in  spite  of  this  punish  him  on  account  of  his  diso- 
bedience, condemn  him  to  eternal  torture  ? 

By  virtue  of  an  exaggerated  feeling  of  dependence, 
many  very  pious  Moslems  preferred  to  imagine  their  God 
as  such  an  arbitrary  being.  The  sacred  book  afforded 
them  many  a  support  for  this.  The  Koran  has  many 
parallels  to  the  account  of  the  hardening  of  Pharoah's 
heart,  also  many  passages  which  in  varying  languages 
convey  the  thought  that  whom  God  wishes  to  guide,  his 
heart  he  expands  for  Islam,  and  whom  he  desires  to 
deceive,  his  breast  he  makes  narrow,  as  if  he  wished  to 


/ 


96  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

scale  the  heavens  (Sura  6,  v.  125).    No  soul  can  believe 
unless  God  decrees  (Sura  10,  v.  100). 

There  is  no  single  teaching  for  which  the  Koran  allows 
such  contradictory  interpretations  as  this  very  question. 
In  opposition  to  the  many  definite  utterances  of  the 
prophet,  there  were  brought  forward  many  expressions 
in  which  it  is  not  Allah  who  is  represented  as  the 
deceiver,  but  Satan,  the  evil  enemy  and  treacherous 
tempter  (Sura  22,  v.  4;  35,  v.  5-6;  41,  v.  36;  43,  v.  35; 
58,  V.  20)  since  Adam  (2,  v.  34;  38,  v.  83  ff).  And  he 
who  wished  to  champion  man's  complete  freedom  of 
will,  not  even  threatened  by  Satan,  could  find  innumerable 
unequivocal  passages  in  the  same  Koran  from  which  the 
very  opposite  of  the  servum  arbitrium  can  be  inferred. 
Man's  good  and  evil  deeds  are  characteristically  desig- 
nated  as  his  ^ '  acquisition, "  that  is  actions  which  he 
has  secured  through  his  own  efforts  (e.  g..  Sura  3,  v.  24 
et  als).  **What  they  have  acquired  (of  evil)  lies  on 
their  hearts  like  rust"  (Sura  83,  v.  14).  And  even  when 
it  is  a  question  of  the  ** sealing  up  of  the  heart,"  this 
is  made  to  agree  with  the  thought  that  they  *^  follow 
their  inclination"  (Sura  47,  v.  15,  18).  Desire  leads  man 
into  sin  (Sura  38,  v.  25).  God  does  not  harden  the  hearts 
of  sinners,  but  '^they  become  hard  (through  their  own 
wickedness)  .  .  .  they  are  like  a  stone,  or  still  harder" 
(Sura  2,  v.  69).  Satan  himself  rejects  the  imputation 
that  he  leads  man  astray;  man  errs  (through  himself) 
(Sura  50,  v.  26).  And  the  same  conception  is  confirmed 
by  historical  examples.  God  says,  for  example,  that  he 
^*  guided  the  wicked  people  of  the  Thamouds  in  the  right 
path:  And  as  to  Thamoud,  we  had  vouchsafed  them 
guidance,  but  to  guidance  did  they  prefer  blindness, 
wherefore  the  tempest  of  a  shameful  punishment  over- 
took them  for  their  doings.  But  we  rescued  the  believing 
and  the  God-fearing"  (Sura  41,  v.  16).  That  is:  God 
had  guided  them,  they  did  not  follow ;   of  their  own  free 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  97 

will  they  sinned  against  God's  decree,  tliey  freely  cliose 
evil.  God  guides  man  into  the  path;  but  it  depends  on 
man  whether  he  gratefully  submits  to  the  guidance  or 
obstinately  rejects  it  (Sura  76,  v.  3).  ^^Each  man  acts 
in  his  own  way''  (Sura  17,  v.  86).  ^^The  truth  is  from 
your  God,  let  him  who  will  believe,  and  let  him  who 
will  be  infidel"  (Sura  18,  v.  28).  '^This  truly  is  a  warn- 
ing: And  whoso  willeth,  taketh  the  way  to  his  Lord" 
(Sura  76,  v.  29).  In  this  also  God  does  not  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  wicked.  He  gives  them  the  power  and 
disposition  to  do  evil,  just  as  he  grants  the  good  the 
disposition,  smooths  the  path  to  do  good  (Sura  92,  v.  7, 
10). 

In  this  connection  I  should  like  to  take  the  oppor- 
tunity for  a  remark,  which  is  not  unimportant  to  the 
understanding  of  the  problem  of  free-will  in  the  i^oran. 
Many  of  those  expressions  of  Mohammed  which  are 
generally  quoted  to  prove  that  it  is  God  himself  who 
is  the  cause  of  the  sinfulness  of  man,  and  leads  him  into 
error,  will  appear  in  a  different  light  if  we  consider 
more  carefully  the  meaning  of  the  word  which  is  gen- 
erally used  to  express  this  ^ heading  astray."  If,  in 
many  passages  of  the  Koran  it  is  said  *^  Allah  guides 
v/hom  he  will,  and  lets  whom  he  will  go  astray,"  such 
passages  do  not  imply  that  God  directly  brings  the  latter 
class  into  the  evil  path.  The  decisive  word  adalla  is  not 
to  be  taken  in  such  a  connection,  as  meaning  to  ^4ead 
astray,"  but  to  allow  to  go  astray,  not  to  trouble  about 
a  person,  not  to  show  him  the  way  out.  ^^We  let  them 
(nadaruhum)  wander  in  his  disobedience"  (Sura  6,  v. 
110).  Let  us  conjure  up  the  picture  of  a  lonely  wanderer 
in  the  desert, — it  is  from  this  idea  that  the  language  of 
the  Koran  concerning  leading  and  wandering  has  sprung. 
The  wanderer  errs  in  a  boundless  expanse,  gazing  about 
for  the  right  direction  to  his  goal.  So  is  man  in  his 
wanderings  through  life.     He  who,  through  faith  and 


98  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

good  works,  has  deserved  the  good  will  of  God;  him  he 
rewards  with  his  guidance.  He  lets  the  evil-doer  go 
astray.  He  leaves  him  to  his  fate  and  takes  his  protec- 
tion from  him.  He  does  not  offer  him  the  guiding  hand, 
but  he  does  not  bring  him  directly  to  the  evil  path.  For 
this  reason  the  figure  of  blindness  and  groping  about  is 
often  used  for  sinners.  They  do  not  see  and  must  there- 
fore wander  without  plan  or  goal.  Since  no  leader  comes 
to  their  aid,  they  fall  irrevocably  into  destruction.  *  *  Now 
have  proofs  that  may  be  seen  come  to  you  from  your 
Lord,  whoso  seeth  them,  the  advantage  will  be  his  own : 
and  whoso  is  blind  to  them,  his  own  will  be  the  loss'' 
(Sura  6,  v.  104).  Why  did  he  not  make  use  of  the  light 
offered  him?  ^^ Assuredly  we  have  sent  down  the  Book 
to  thee  for  man  and  for  the  ends  of  truth.  Whoso  shall 
be  guided  by  it — it  will  be  for  his  own  advantage, — and 
whoso  shall  err,  shall  only  err  to  his  own  loss"  (Sura  39, 
V.  42). 

This  abandoning  of  man  to  himself, — the  withdrawal 
of  God's  care,  is  a  prominent  thought  in  the  Koran  with 
regard  to  those  who  because  of  their  former  life  make 
themselves  unworthy  of  divine  grace.  It  is  said  of  God 
that  he  forgets  the  wicked,  because  they  forget  him,  the 
conclusion  is  consistently  drawn  that  God  forgets  the 
sinner  (Sura  7,  v.  49;  9,  v.  68;  45,  v.  33),  i.  e.,  he  does 
not  concern  himself  with  him.  Guidance  is  a  reward  of 
the  good.  ^' Allah  does  not  guide  the  wicked"  (Sura  9,  v. 
110).  He  allows  them  to  wander  aimlessly.  Unbelief 
is  not  the  result,  but  the  cause  of  straying  (Sura  47,  v. 
9;  especially  61,  v.  5).  Indeed,  *^Whom  God  leaves  in 
error,  he  does  not  find  the  right  path"  (Sura  42,  v.  45) 
and  ^'whom  he  leaves  in  error  that  one  has  no  leader" 
(Sura  40,  v.  35)  and  goes  headlong  to  destruction  (Sura 
7,  V.  177).  It  is  everywhere  the  withdrawal  of  grace  as 
a  punishment  that  is  the  cause  of  godlessness,  and  not 
the  circumstance  of  being  led  astray.    The  early  Moslems 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  99 

who  stood  close  to  the  original  points  of  view  both  real- 
ized and  felt  this.  It  is  said  in  a  Hadith,  ^'The  heart 
of  him  who  contemptuously  neglects  three  Friday  serv- 
ices {tahdivunan)  is  sealed  by  God.''^  By  the  sealing  of 
the  heart  is  understood  a  condition  into  which  man  falls 
only  after  the  neglect  of  religious  demands.  An  old 
prayer  which  the  prophet  taught  Husein,  the  neophyte 
who  embraced  Islam,  runs:  ^^0,  Allah,  teach  me  my 
right  path  and  guard  me  from  the  evils  of  my  own  soul, '  '^ 
i.  e.,  do  not  leave  me  to  my  own  devices,  but  extend  to 
me  a  guiding  hand.  This  is  not  a  question  of  misleading. 
The  feeling  that  to  be  abandoned  to  oneself  is  the  direst 
kind  of  divine  punishment  is  expressed  in  an  ancient 
Moslem  oath,  ^^If  my  declaration  prove  untrue  (in  cases 
of  assertion),  or  if  I  do  not  keep  my  promise  (in  promis- 
sory oaths),  then  may  God  cut  me  off  from  his  care  and 
strength  and  leave  me  to  my  own  care  and  strength,''^ 
i.  e.,  may  he  withdraw  his  hand  from  me,  so  that  I  am 
obliged  to  see  how  I  can  get  along,  deprived  of  his 
guidance  and  help.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  we  are  to 
understand  the  allowing  of  a  sinner  to  go  astray^ — and 
not  that  he  has  been  led  astray. 

IV.  We  have  seen  that  the  Koran  can  be  used  in  the 
defense  of  the  most  contradictory  views  in  regard  to 
one  of  the  most  important,  fundamental  questions  of 
religious  and  ethical  knowledge.  Hubert  Grimme,  who 
has  gone  very  deeply  into  the  analysis  of  the  theology 
of  the  Koran,  has  found  a  view  which  can  help  us  out 
of  this  confusion.  He  thinks  that  the  contradictorv 
teachings  which  Mohammed  gave  concerning  the  freedom 
of  the  will  and  the  choice  of  grace,  belong  to  different 
epochs  of  his  life  and  correspond  to  the  impressions  made 
upon  him  by  his  environment  and  experiences  of  the  time. 
In  the  first  Meccan  period  he  takes  the  standpoint  of  com- 
plete freedom  of  will  and  responsibility.  In  Medina,  how- 
ever, he  tends  more  and  more  to  the  teaching  of  the  lack 


100  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

of  freedom  and  of  the  servum  arbitrium.  The  crassest 
teachings  on  this  subject  appear  toward  the  close  of  his 
life.^  Provided  the  chronological  order  could  be  surely 
carried  out,  this  view  could  serve  as  a  guide  for  those 
who  can  consider  it  historically.  "We  cannot,  however, 
expect  this  from  the  early  Moslems,  who  had  to  thread 
their  way  through  the  contradictory  teachings,  to  declare 
themselves  for  one  or  another  of  the  conflicting  views 
and  to  evolve  some  sort  of  harmony  out  of  the  opposing 
opinions.  The  attitude  of  dependence  which  is  prom- 
inent in  the  whole  of  the  Moslem  system  was  undoubtedly 
favorable  to  the  denial  of  the  freedom  of  the  will.  Virtue 
and  iniquity,  reward  and  punishment,  should  be  entirely 
dependent  on  God's  gracious  choice.  Man's  will  was 
not  to  be  considered. 

Very  early,  however  (we  can  trace  the  movement  to 
about  the  end  of  the  seventh  century),  such  a  tyrannical 
conception  disturbed  the  pious  mind,  which  could  not 
rest  content  with  the  unjust  God  implied  in  the  current 
point  of  view. 

External  influences  also  contributed  to  the  rise  and 
growing  confirmation  of  the  pious  views.  The  earliest 
protest  against  unlimited  predestination  finds  its  home 
in  Syrian  Islam.  Kremer-  forcibly  points  out  the  fact, 
that  the  early  Moslem  teachers  were  incited  by  their 
Christian  theological  environment  to  question  unbounded 
determinism.  For  already  in  the  Eastern  Church  the 
disputes  over  this  point  were  absorbing  the  attention  of 
the  theologians.  Damascus,  the  seat  of  Moslem  learning 
at  the  time  of  the  Omayyad  caliphate,  became  the  centre 
of  the  discussion  of  kadar^  fatalism,  and  from  here  it  was 
rapidly  disseminated. 

Pious  views  were  put  forward  to  establish  the  con- 
tention that  man  in  his  ethical  and  legal  acts  cannot  be 
the  slave  of  an  unchangeable  predestination,  but  rather 
that  he  is  himself  the  author  of  his  own  acts  and  so 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  101 

becomes  the  cause  of  his  salvation  or  his  condemnation. 
The  motto  of  these  people  later  became  Jchalk  al-afdl — 
creation  of  acts.  Because  they  limited  the  scope  of 
kadar  the}^  came  to  be  known  as  Kadarites,  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  lucus  a  non  lucendo.  On  the  other  hand  they 
called  their  opponents    ^'people   of  blind  compulsion'' 

(jabr)  Jabarites... This  was  the  earliest  dogmatic  dis- 

sention  within  ancient  Islam. 

Although  the  Koran  could  supply  both  parties  with 
arguments,  still  a  mythological  tradition,  which  either 
developed  very  early  as  a  kind  of  hagada  in  Islam,  or 
perhaps  first  appeared  in  the  course  of  these  disputes, — 
exact  dates  cannot  be  furnished — favored  the  deter- 
minists.  According  to  this,  immediately  after  the  creation 
of  Adam,  God  took  from  his  bodily  substance, — imagined 
as  gigantic, — all  his  descendants  in  the  form  of  small 
ants,  and  at  that  early  time,  determined  the  classes  of  the 
blessed  and  the  damned,  and  incorporated  them  in  the 
right  and  left  side  of  the  body  of  the  first  man.  An 
angel  appointed  for  this  special  task  indicates  for  each 
separate  embryo  the  whole  fate  of  his  life  (according  to 
an  expression  borrowed  from  India:  ^^ written  on  his 
forehead'')^ ;  among  other  things  whether  he  is  destined 
to  be  saved  or  condemned.  The  corresponding  eschato- 
logical  tradition  was  also  developed  from  the  standpoint 
of  determinism.  God  sends  the  poor  sinner  quite  arbi- 
trarily to  Hell.  The  ^intercession''  attributed  to  the 
prophet  is  the  only  mitigating  element  here. 

The  representations  on  which  were  based  such  con- 
ceptions, were  far  too  deeply  rooted  in  the  popular  mind, 
for  the  very  contradictory  teachings  of  the  Kadarites, 
emphasizing  free  choice  and  full  responsibility,  to  gain 
many  adherents.  The  Kadarites  defended  themselves 
with  difficulty  against  the  attacks  and  opposition  of  the 
opponents  who  brought  forward  the  old  interpretations 
of  the  sacred  text  and  the  popular  fables  mentioned 


102  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

above.  The  Kadarite  movement  is  of  great  importance 
in  the  history  of  Islam,  as  the  oldest  effort  to  free  itself 
from  inherited  and  prevailing  conceptions,  not,  indeed, 
in  the  interest  of  freedom  of  thought,  but  in  the  interest 
of  the  demands  of  the  pious  mind.  It  is  not  the  note  of 
protest  of  the  intellect  against  pedantic  dogma  which 
sounds  from  the  mouth  of  Kadarites,  but  the  voice 
of  the  religious  conscience,  protesting  against  an 
unworthy  representation  of  God  and  his  relations  to  the 
religious  impulses  of  his  servants. 

A  number  of  traditional  sayings  invented  to  belittle 
them,  show  what  opposition  these  tendencies  encountered, 
how  little  sympathy  the  Kadarite  ways  of  thought 
secured.  As  in  other  cases,  here  also  an  effort  is  made 
to  base  the  general  orthodox  feeling  on  the  teaching  of 
the  prophet  himself.  They  were  the  magi  of  the  Moslem 
community.  As  the  followers  of  Zoroaster  account  for 
evil  by  opposing  a  principle  of  evil  to  the  creator  of 
the  good,  so  the  Moslems  eliminate  the  evil  deeds  of  man 
from  the  sphere  of  Allah's  creation.  It  is  not  God,  but 
the  autonomous  will  of  man  who  creates  disobedience. 
The  efforts  of  the  Kadarites  to  prove  their  thesis  by 
alleged  disputes  between  Mohammed  and  ^Ali  are 
sharply  condemned  and  every  possible  abuse  and  con- 
tumely are  hurled  at  their  heads.**^ 

Another  remarkable  fact  appears  here.  Even  the 
rulers  in  Damascus,  who  ordinarily  showed  very  little 
interest  in  dogmatic  questions,  were  greatly  annoyed  by 
the  Kadarite  movement  spreading  in  Syrian  Islam. 
They  sometimes  took  an  outspoken  stand  against  those 
who  advocated  the  freedom  of  the  will.* 

These  declarations  of  opinion  by  the  rulers  who  were 
busy  with  the  great  work  of  building  up  a  new  state,  did 
not  perhaps  find  their  motive  in  aversion  to  theological 
wrangling.     To  be  sure,  men  who  are  struggling  with 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT,  103 

extensive  plans  for  the  development  of  a  state,  and  had 
to  fight  enemies  of  the  dynasty  on  all  sides,  must  have 
found  it  quite  disagreeable  to  have  the  minds  of  the 
masses  aroused  by  subtleties  over  the  freedom  of  the 
will  and  self-determinism.  Strong  dominating  person- 
alities are  not  apt  to  be  pleased  with  the  reasoning  of 
the  masses.  There  was  a  deeper  reason  for  the  Omay- 
yads  to  foresee  a  danger  in  the  weakening  of  the  dogma 
of  fatalism, — not  a  danger  to  faith,  but  to  their  own 
politics. 

They  knew  perfectly  well  that  their  dynasty  was  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  the  pious,  of  those  very  men  who, 
on  account  of  their  piety,  possessed  the  hearts  of  the  com- 
mon people.  They  knew  very  well  that  to  many  of  their 
subjects  they  were  usurpers  who  had  seized  the  reins 
of  government  by  tyrannical  force  and  were  looked  upon 
as  enemies  of  the  prophet's  family,  murderers  of  holy 
persons,  profaners  of  the  sacred  places.  There  was  one 
belief  which  was  best  fitted  to  restrain  the  people  and 
prevent  a  movement  against  them  and  their  representa- 
tives,— the  belief  in  fate.  God  had  decided  from  all 
eternity  that  these  people  should  reign,  and  all  their 
deeds  were  absolutely  decreed  by  fate.  It  was  very 
acceptable  to  them  to  have  such  views  take  hold  of  the 
people.  They  listened  with  pleasure  when  their  poets 
praised  them  in  terms  which  recognized  their  rule  as 
willed  by  God,  as  a  decretum  divinum.  The  faithful 
could  not  resist  this.  The  poets  of  the  Omayyad  caliphs, 
therefore,  praised  their  princes  as  rulers:  ^^ whose  rule 
was  foreordained  by  the  eternal  decree  of  God.'^^ 

When  the  acts  of  the  rulers  appeared  tyrannical  and 
unjust,  this  dogma  served  to  satisfy  the  people,  as  well 
as  to  legitimatize  the  dynasty.  The  submissive  subjects 
should  regard  ^^the  Emir-al-mu'  minin  and  his  oppressive 
acts  in  the  light  of  fate,  whose  acts  no  one  should  criti- 


104  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

cise/'^  These  are  the  words  of  a  poet  of  the  gruesome 
deeds  of  an  Omayyad  prince,  and  follow  them  as  an 
echo. 

The  belief  was  to  take  root  that  all  acts  must  neces- 
sarily occur  as  decreed  by  God,  and  it  was  impossible  for 
the  will  of  man  to  prevent  them.  ^  ^  These  Kings ' '  accord- 
ing to  some  of  the  older  Kadarites,  ^^shed  the  blood  of 
the  true  believers,  unjustly  seize  the  goods  of  others,  and 
claim,  ^  our  deeds  spring  from  kadar. '  ' '"  The  Omayyad 
caliph  ^Abdalmalik,  who  confirmed  himself  in  power 
after  a  severe  struggle,  locked  one  of  his  rivals  in  his 
palace  and  murdered  him  with  the  approval  of  his 
^^ palace''  priest.  He  then  had  the  head  of  the  murdered 
man  thrown  into  the  crowd  of  followers  of  his  victim, 
who  were  awaiting  his  return  before  the  palace.  The 
caliph  sent  word  to  them:  ^^The  prince  of  the  faithful 
has  killed  your  lord,  as  it  was  ordained  in  the  eternal 
destiny  of  fate  and  in  the  unchangeable  divine  decree 
.  .  . ''  Thus  runs  the  tale.  Naturally  it  was  impossible 
to  resist  the  divine  decree  of  which  the  caliph  was  the 
only  instrument.  Everyone  acquiesced  and  did  homage 
to  the  murderer  of  the  man,  whom  but  a  short  time 
before,  they  had  considered  a  true  believer.  Even  though 
this  may  not  be  implicitly  accepted  as  history,  it  can 
nevertheless  testify  to  the  connection  claimed  between  the 
acts  of  the  government  and  inevitable  fate.  I  must  not, 
indeed,  omit  the  fact  that  the  appeal  to  the  divine  decree 
was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  dirhems,  which  were 
to  mitigate  the  horror  of  the  spectators  at  the  sight  of 
the  head  of  ^Amr  ibn  Sa'id  which  was  thrown  into  the 
crowd.^ 

The  Kadarite  movement  during  the  Omayyad  dynasty 
is  the  first  stage  on  the  way  to  a  weakening  of  universal 
Mohammedan  orthodoxy.  This  is  its  greatest  historical 
service,  even  though  this  was  not  contemplated  by  it. 
This  significance  of  the  movement  must  justify  me  in 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  105 

discussing  its  various  aspects  at  such  length  in  this 
lecture.  Soon,  however,  the  breach  which  had  now  been 
made  in  the  customary  na'ive  belief  of  the  people,  was 
to  widen  and  be  spread  over  a  wider  area  by  the  criti- 
cisms of  the  usual  forms  of  belief,  in  so  far  as  this  was 
made  possible  by  intellectual  and  spiritual  growth. 

V.  In  the  meantime  the  Moslem  world  had  become 
acquainted  with  Aristotle's  philosophy  which  greatly 
a:ffected  the  religious  thought  of  many  of  the  learned. 
However  much  the  effort  was  made  to  reconcile  the 
religious  traditions  with  the  newly  acquired  tenets  of 
philosophy,  Islam  was  threatened  with  immeasurable 
danger.  But  in  certain  points  it  seemed  almost  impos- 
sible to  connect  Aristotle,  even  in  his  Neo-Platonic  garb, 
with  the  premises  of  Moslem  faith.  Belief  in  the  creation 
of  the  world  in  time,  in  special  providence,  and  in  mira- 
cles,  was  not  to  be  vindicated  by  Aristotle's  philosophy. 

In  order  to  preserve  Islam  and  its  tradition  for  the 
chosen,  however,  there  developed  a  new  speculative 
system,  known  in  the  history  of  philosophy  as  kalam  and 
whose  advocates  are  called  Mutakallimun,  At  its  origin 
the  word  7nutaJcaUirn — ^literally  'speaker' — was  used  to  i 
indicate  one  who  takes  up  some  dogma  or  dogmatic  I 
problem,  and  adduces  speculative  proofs  for  his  con- 
tentions. Accordingly  miitakallim  entails  as  a  supple- 
ment the  special  question  with  which  the  speculative 
activity  of  the  theologian  is  concerned.  For  example  any 
one  who  discusses  those  questions  raised  by  the  Murji' 
would  be  called:  ''min  al-mutakallimma  fi-1-irja."^  The 
term,  however,  is  soon  expanded  to  designate  those  ' '  who 
take  up  the  doctrines  which  are  accepted  in  religious 
beliefs  as  truths  not  to  be  subjected  to  discussion,  and 
make  them  objects  of  discussion  and  argument,  and 
formulate  them  so  that  they  may  become  plausible  to 
thinking  minds."  Speculative  activity  in  this  direction 
then  received  the  name  of  'kaldm  (speech,  oral  discus- 


106  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

sion).  According  to  its  tendency  of  serving  as  a  sup- 
port of  religious  teachings,  kalam  passed  from  the  anti 
Aristotelian  premises,  and  came  to  mean,  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word,  a  philosophy  of  religion.  Its  oldest 
adherents  are  called  Mu'tazilites, 

This  word  indicates  ^Hhose  who  separate  themselves.'^ 
It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  the  fable  generally  cited  in 
explanation  of  the  motive  for  this  appellation,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  accept  as  the  right  explanation  of  it  the  fact 
that  the  origin  of  this  party  lay  in  pious  impulses.  It 
was  pious,  partly  ascetic  people,  mu^tazila,  i.  e.,  ^Hhose 
who  withdrew  themselves'' — ascetics^ — who  gave  the  first 
impetus  to  that  movement,  which  through  the  accession 
of  rationalistic  circles  came  more  and  more  into  opposi- 
tion to  the  predominating  beliefs. 

In  their  final  development  only,  do  they  justify  the 
name  of  *  *  freethinkers  in  Islam, ' '  a  name  given  to  them 
by  the  Zurich  professor  Heinrich  Steiner,  who  was  the 
first  (1865)  to  write  a  monograph  on  this  school.^  They 
start  from  religious  motives  like  their  predecessors,  the 
old  Kadarites.  In  their  beginnings  the  Mu^tazila  do  not 
show  the  slightest  tendency  to  free  themselves  from 
uncomfortable  bonds,  to  break  away  from  the  strict 
orthodox  conception  of  life.  It  is  not  a  sign  of  great 
mental  exaltation,  that  one  of  the  first  questions  consid- 
ered by  the  Mu'  tazila  and  settled  in  their  own  mind  is 
whether,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Murji'  conception, 
the  commission  of  ^* major  sins"  constitutes  essentially 
kafir^  and  accordingly,  liability  to  eternal  punishment,  to 
the  same  degree  as  does  unbelief.  It  introduces  into 
dogma  the  notion  of  a  middle  ground  between  the  believer 
and  the  unbeliever, — strange  subtleties  for  philosophical 
minds ! 

Wasil  ibn  ^Ata,  who,  in  the  history  of  Islamic  dogma, 
is  called  the  founder  of  the  Mu*  tazila,  is  described  as  an 
ascetic  by  his  biographers.    In  an  elegy  he  is  praised  as 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  107 

one  who  ''never  touched  either  a  dinar  or  a  dirhem''^ 
and  his  comrade  also,  '  Amr  ihn  'JJheid,  is  designated  as 
an  ascetic  (zahid)  who  spent  whole  nights  in  prayer, 
performed  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  forty  times  on  foot, 
and  always  looked  as  mournful  * '  as  if  he  had  just  come 
from  the  burial  of  his  parents/'  There  is  extant  a  pious 
ascetic  exhortation  of  his,  very  well  written,  directed  to 
the  Caliph  al-Mansur,  in  which  we  notice  nothing  of  a 
rationalistic  tendency.^  If  the  ''classes''  of  Mu'tazilites 
be  examined,  it  will  be  found  that  for  a  considerable 
period^  their  asceticism  holds  an  important  place  in  the 
noted  peculiarities  of  many  of  these  people. 

In  the  religious  points  of  view  which  their  teachings 
especially  advanced— the  lessening  of  the  omnipotence 
of  God  in  favor  of  the  demands  of  justice— there  were 
indications  of  the  beginnings  of  opposition  to  the  cur- 
rently accepted  orthodoxy,  many  important  considera- 
tions, which  could  easily  attract  even  sceptics  to  their 
side.  The  connection  with  the  kalam  soon  gives  a  ration- 
alistic color  to  their  modes  of  thought,  and  leads  them 
more  and  more  in  the  direction  of  rationalistic  aims,  the 
development  of  which  on  the  part  of  the  Mu'tazilites 
brings  them  into  a  steadily  growing  attitude  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  general  orthodoxy. 

In  our  final  summary  of  them  it  will  be  found  that 
they  labor  under  the  disadvantage  of  many  unsympa- 
thetic traits.  One  service,  however,  they  undoubtedly 
rendered.  They  were  the  first  to  broaden  the  religious 
sources  of  knowledge  in  Islam  so  as  to  embrace  reason, 
'akl,  which  had  been  until  then  strictly  avoided  in  this 
religion.  Some  of  their  most  distinguished  adherents  go 
so  far  as  to  say  that  "the  first  condition  of  knowledge 
is  doubt."'  "Fifty  doubts  are  better  than  one  cer- 
tainty,"* and  other  expressions  of  this  order.  One 
could  say  of  them  that  according  to  their  method  there 
was  a  sixth  sense,  the  ' ahl  (reason^).    They  made  it  the 


108  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

criterion  in  matters  of  belief.  One  of  their  older  adher- 
ents, Bishr  ibn  al-Mu'  tamir  from  Baghdad,  in  a  didactic 
poem  on  natural  history,  preserved  and  commentated 
upon  by  his  associate  Jahiz,  dedicates  a  true  hymn  of 
praise  to  reason: 

How  beautiful  is  reason  as  an  emissary  and  comrade  in  evil  and 

good! 
As  a  judge  who  decides  on  that  which  is  absent,  as  one  judges 

that  which  is  present ; 
....  some  of  its  deeds,  that  it  decides  between  the  good  and 

the  evil ; 
Through  the  possession  of  powers  which  God  has  distinguished 

with  unsullied  holiness  and  purity.^*^ 

Many  of  those  who  carried  skepticism  to  the  extreme, 
assigned  to  the  testimony  of  our  senses  as  low  a  place 
as  possible  among  the  criteria  of  knowledge.^ ^  At  any 
rate  they  were  the  first  in  the  theology  of  Islam  to 
emphasize  the  right  of  Reason.  In  doing  this,  it  is  true, 
they  radically  strayed  from  their  point  of  departure. 
In  its  highest  point  of  development  it  characterizes  a 
reckless  criticism  of  those  elements  of  the  popular  belief, 
which  had  long  been  regarded  as  an  indispensable  part 
of  orthodox  confession.  They  caviled  at  the  rhetorical 
inaccessibility  of  the  terms  of  the  Koran,  at  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Hadith,  in  which  the  documents  of  popular 
belief  take  shape.  Their  negation  directed  itself  espe- 
cially within  this  system,  against  the  mythological  ele- 
ments of  eschatology.  The  accounts  of  the  Sirat-bridge, 
as  fine  as  a  hair  and  as  sharp  as  a  sword,  over  which  the 
faithful  pass  into  paradise  with  the  swiftness  of  light- 
ning, while  those  destined  to  condemnation,  in  attempting 
to  pass  with  uncertain  steps,  fall  into  the  yawning  abyss 
of  hell;  of  the  waves  on  which  the  deeds  of  men  are 
tossed;    and  many  other  such  presentations  are  elimi- 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  109 

nated  by  them  from  the  group  of  obligatory  beliefs,  and 
explained  allegorically. 

The  predominating  view  which  guided  them  in  their  \ 
religious  philosophy  was  the  purification  of  the  mono- 
theistic conception  of  God  from  all  obscurity  and  dis- 
figurement to  which  it  had  been  subjected  in  the  tradi- 
tional popular  belief,  especially  in  two  directions, — the 
ethical  and  the  metaphysical.  All  representations  which 
are  derogatory  to  the  belief  in  his  justice  must  be  dis- 
carded. The  God  idea  must  be  purified  of  all  representa- 
tions which  could  obscure  his  absolute  unity,  singleness 
and  unchangeableness.  They  nevertheless  cling  to  the 
idea  of  the  creative,  active,  foreseeing  God  and  protest 
strongly  against  the  Aristotelian  idea  of  God.  The 
Aristotelian  teachings  concerning  the  eternity  of  the 
world,  the  confession  of  the  inviolability  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  the  rejection  of  a  providence  which  reaches  to 
the  individual,  are  divisions  which  differentiate  these 
rationalistic  Islamic  theologians  with  all  the  freedom  of 
their  speculative  activity,  from  the  followers  of  the 
Stagirite.  On  account  of  the  inadequate  proofs  which 
they  advanced,  they  had  to  bear  the  scorn  and  the  sar- 
castic criticism  of  the  philosophers,  who  would  neither 
recognize  them  as  equal  opponents,  nor  their  method  of 
thought  as  worthy  of  consideration.^  ^  The  reflection 
could  justifiably  be  made  on  their  course  of  action,  that 
philosophical  independence  and  the  lack  of  an  hypothesis 
were  quite  foreign  to  them;  for  they  are  fettered  by  a 
positive  religion  for  whose  purification  they  wished  to 
work  through  intellectual  methods. 

As  has  already  been  mentioned,  this  work  of  purifica- 
tion has  been  applied  especially  to  two  themes, — divine 
justice  and  divine  unity.  Every  Mu'tazilite  handbook 
consists  of  two  groups, — the  one  is  embraced  in  the 
'' chapter  of  justice,"  the  other  ^^that  of  the  confession 
of  unity. ' '    This  division  determines  the  character  of  all 


110  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Mu^tazilite  theological  literature.  Because  of  this  trend 
in  their  religious  philosophical  efforts,  they  have  given 
themselves  the  name  of  ^^  people  of  justice  and  of  the 
confession  of  unity. ' '  In  the  historical  sequence  in  which 
these  questions  appear,  the  question  of  justice  takes  the 
first  place.  They  attach  themselves  directly  to  the  prop- 
ositions of  the  Kadarites,  which  are  further  developed  by 
the  Mu' tazilites.  They  start  from  the  claim  that  man 
has  unlimited  freedom  of  will  in  his  deeds,  that  he  him- 
self is  creator  of  his  actions.  Otherwise  it  would  be 
unjust  for  God  to  hold  him  responsible. 

In  the  conclusion  drawn  from  this  fundamental  idea, 
set  up  as  an  axiom,  they  go  farther  than  the  Kadarites, 
While  inscribing  on  their  banners  the  dogma  of  man's 
free  will,  and  rejecting  the  idea  of  God's  arbitrariness, 
they  further  maintain  in  connection  with  the  conception 
of  God  that  he  is  necessarily  just.  The  notion  of  justice 
is  not  to  be  separated  from  the  conception  of  God.  No 
act  of  God  can  be  thought  of  which  does  not  correspond 
to  the  terms  of  justice.  God's  universal  power  has  one 
limit  and  that  is  in  the  demands  of  justice,  from  which 
it  cannot  escape,  which  it  cannot  remove. 

Through  this  method  of  reasoning,  there  is  introduced 
into  the  conception  of  God  an  idea  that  was  quite  for- 
i  eign  to  ancient  Islam,  that  of  necessity.    There  are  things 
V  in  relation  to  God  which  are  designated  as  necessity. 
God  must,  is  an  assertion  which  from  the  point  of  view 
c  of  ancient  Islam  would  have  appeared  as   a   striking 
^  absurdity,  if  not  indeed  as  blasphemy.    Since  God  created 
man  with  a  view  to  happiness,  he  was  obliged  to  send 
prophets  to  teach  the  ways  and  means  of  attaining  hap- 
piness.   This  was  not  the  result  of  his  sovereign  will,  a 
divine  gift  which  his  absolute  independent  will  could  have 
withheld ;  it  was  a  necessary  act  of  the  divine  good- will. 
He  could  not  be  conceived  as  a  being  whose  deeds  are 
good,  unless  he  had  given  mankind  a  chance  to  be  guided. 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  Ill 

He  had  to  reveal  himself  through  prophets.  He  himself 
admitted  this  necessity  in  the  Koran.  ^^It  rests  upon 
Allah  (it  is  his  obligation)  to  lead  into  the  right  path/' — 
so  they  explain  Sura  16,  v.  9.^^ 

By  the  side  of  this  conception  of  necessity,  another 
very  closely  affiliated  with  it  is  introduced  into  the  con-i 
ception  of  God,  namely  that  of  utility.  God's  decrees 
contemplate  the  good  of  man,  and  this  again  by  virtue 
of  necessity.  Man  can  freely  accept  or  reject  these  teach- 
ings, revealed  for  his  own  good.  But  the  just  God  must 
reward  the  good  and  punish  the  evil.  The  orthodox 
fancy  concerning  his  arbitrary  wish  to  people  paradise 
and  hell  according  to  his  caprice,  and  the  harsh  fact  that 
virtue  and  obedience  offered  no  guarantee  to  the  just 
for  future  reward,  were  eliminated  through  an  oppor- 
tunism whose  implications  God  necessarily  fulfills. 

They  emphasize  the  law  of  compensation  which  be- 
comes another  limit  to  God's  arbitrariness,  as  set  up  by 
orthodox  conception.  The  just,  who  suffer  undeserved 
trouble  and  pain  here  on  earth,  in  as  much  as  God  neces- 
sarily appears  to  them  as  useful  and  beneficial,  must  be 
recompensed  in  the  other  world.  In  itself  this  was 
nothing  particularly  characteristic.  By  a  modification 
of  the  critical  little  word  ^'must"  it  was  made  to  accord 
with  an  orthodox  postulate.  But  many  of  the  Mu'tazil- 
ites  applied  this  postulate  not  only  to  true  believers,  or 
to  innocent  children,  who  have  been  subjected  to  unde- 
served pain  and  suffering  here  on  earth,  but  also  to 
animals.  Animals  must  be  recompensed  in  another 
existence  for  the  suffering  which  the  selfishness  and 
cruelty  of  man  imposes  upon  them  here.  Otherwise  God 
is  not  just.  We  thus  obtain,  as  it  were,  a  transcendental 
protection  of  animals — an  instance  of  the  consistency 
with  which  they  carry  out  their  doctrine  of  the  justice  of 
God  and  how,  in  the  last  resort  they  set  up  in  opposition 
to  man  free  in  his  choice,  a  God  who  in  a  certain  sense 


112  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

lacks  freedom.  Closely  affiliated  with  this  view  is 
another  conception  in  the  domain  of  ethics.  To  the  ques- 
tion, what  from  an  ethical  religious  point  of  view  is  good 
and  what  is  evil,  or  according  to  theological  terminology, 
what  is  beautiful  and  what  ugly,  the  orthodox  answers : 
the  ' '  good-beautiful ' '  is  what  God  commands ;  the  ' '  evil- 
U2:iv"  is  what  God  forbids.  The  absolute  divine  will  and 
its  decrees  are  the  measure  of  good  and  evil.  There  is 
nothing  inherently  good,  or  inherently  evil.  Murder  is 
to  be  condemned  because  God  has  forbidden  it.  It  would 
not  be  evil  if  divine  law  had  not  stamped  it  as  such.  Not 
so  the  Mu^tazilite.  For  him  there  is  absolute  good  and 
absolute  e\dl,  and  reason  offers  the  measure  for  this 
judgment.  This  is  the  premise  and  not  the  divine  will. 
A  thing  is  not  good  because  God  has  commanded  it,  but 
God  has  ordained  it  because  it  is  good.  If  we  could 
change  these  definitions  of  the  theologians  of  Basra  and 
Baghdad  into  modern  terms,  would  it  not  amount  to  this ; 
that  God  is  bound  in  his  giving  of  laws  by  the  categorical 

IMPERATR'E  ! 

VI.  We  are  thus  confronted  with  a  series  of  ideas  and 
fundamental  principles  which  are  well  adapted  to  show 
that  the  opposition  of  the  Mu^tazilites  to  the  simple- 
beliefs  of  orthodoxy,  is  concerned  not  only  with  meta- 
physical questions,  but  that  the  conclusions  dra^vn  b^^ 
them  enter  deeply  into  fundamental  ethical  conceptions, 
and  in  positive  Islam  are  of  decisive  importance  in  \T.ews 
concerning  divine  legislation. 

But  they  had  much  more  to  accomplish  in  the  other 
field,  which  forms  the  object  of  their  rationalistic  reli- 
gious philosophy,  namely  in  the  field  of  the  monotheistic 
idea.  Within  this  field  they  first  had  to  clear  away  a  lot 
of  rubbish  which  had  obscured  the  purity  of  the  idea. 

In  the  first  place  they  strove  to  efface  the  anthropomor- 
phic conceptions  of  traditional  orthodoxy,  as  incompatible 
with  a  worthy  view  of  God.  Orthodoxy  would  not  listen  toi 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  113 

any  but  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  anthropomorphic 
and  anthropopathic  expressions  of  the  Koran  and  of  tra- 
ditional texts.  God's  seeing,  hearing,  anger,  smile,  his 
rising  and  sitting,  even  his  hands,  feet  and  ears,  which 
are  mentioned  so  often  in  the  Koran  and  other  texts, 
were  to  be  taken  in  a  literal  sense.  The  Hanbalite  school 
contended  especially  for  this  primitive  conception  of  God. 
It  was  Sunna  to  them.  At  most  these  old  believers  were 
willing  to  confess  that  while  clinging  to  the  literal  inter- 
pretation of  the  text,  they  were  unable  to  specify  how 
these  conceptions  were  to  be  actually  thought  out.  They 
demand  blind  belief  in  the  literalness  of  the  text  hild  keif 
*^ without  a  how,''  whence  this  point  of  view  is  known 
as  halkafa.  To  determine  further  the  reason  why  is 
beyond  the  grasp  of  human  powers,  and  men  should 
not  meddle  with  things  which  transcend  the  range  of 
human  thought.  The  names  of  some  of  the  older  exe- 
getes  are  preserved,  by  whom  the  assertion  that  God 
was  ^^ flesh  and  blood,"  and  that  he  had  limbs,  was 
regarded  as  a  correct  statement.  It  is  sufficient  to  add 
that  these  were  not  by  any  means  to  be  thought  of  as 
like  those  of  man,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Koran: 
**  There  is  nothing  like  unto  him,  and  he  is  the  hearing 
and  seeing  one"  (Sura  42,  v.  9).  But  one  cannot  imagine 
anything  as  actually  existing,  which  has  not  substanti- 
ality. The  conception  of  God  as  a  purely  spiritual  being 
appears  as  atheism  to  these  people. 

To  be  sure  the  Islamic  anthropomorphists  have  some- 
times carried  this  conception  to  a  degree  incredibly 
coarse.  Let  me  mention  here  certain  facts  from  later 
times,  in  order  to  give  an  idea  of  how  unrestrained  such 
views  must  have  been  at  a  time  when  no  spiritual  opposi- 
tion had  yet  mitigated  them.  The  example  of  an  Anda- 
lusian  theologian  will  show  the  excesses  which  were 
possible  in  this  field.  A  very  famous  theologian  from 
Majorca,  who  died  in  Baghdad  about  524/1130,  Muham- 


114  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

med  ihn  Sa'dun,  known  by  the  name  Abu  ^Amir  al- 
Kurashi,  went  so  far  as  to  offer  the  following  explana- 
tion  of  the  verse  of  the  Koran  to  which  the  heretics 
referred:  **  *  There  is  nothing  like  unto  him  (God)/ 
This  means  only  that  nothing  can  be  compared  to  him 
in  his  divine  essence;  but  as  regards  form,  he  is  like 
you  and  me.  That  is  to  be  taken  much  as  the  Koran 
verse,  in  which  God  calls  upon  the  wives  of  the  prophet, 
*0h,  wives  of  the  prophet,  ye  are  not  as  other  women' 
(Sura  33,  v.  32),  i.  e.,  other  women  are  on  a  lower  plane 
of  virtue,  but  in  form  they  are  exactly  like  you.''  One 
must  confess  that  there  is  considerable  blasphemy  in 
this  orthodox  hermeneutics.  The  same  authority  did  not 
recoil  from  the  most  extreme  consequences.  On  one 
occasion  he  read  the  Koran  verse  (Sura  68,  v.  42),  which 
says  of  the  last  judgment  day:  *^0n  the  day  when  the 
thigh  shall  be  bared,  and  they  shall  be  called  to  worship." 
And  in  order  to  refute  as  energetically  as  possible  any 
metaphorical  explanation  of  this  sentence,  Abu  ^Amir 
slapped  his  own  thigh  and  said:  ^^a  true  thigh,  one  just 
like  this  one."^  Similarly,  two  centuries  later,  the 
famous  Hanbalite  Sheikh  Taki  al-din  ibn  Teymiyya  (d. 
728/1328)  in  Damascus,  in  a  lecture  is  said  to  have  quoted 
one  of  those  texts,  in  which  the  ^^ descending"  of  God 
is  mentioned.  In  order  to  get  rid  of  any  doubt  and  to 
illustrate  his  conception  of  the  rising  of  God  ad  oculos, 
the  Sheikh  descended  a  few  steps  of  the  pulpit  saying: 
^'just  as  I  descend  here." 

Such  is  the  outcome  of  the  old  anthropomorphic  ten- 
dency, against  which  the  Mu^tazilites  first  took  up  arms 
in  the  religious  field,  by  spiritualizing,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  purity  and  worth  of  the  Islamic  conception 
of  God,  all  those  anthropomorphic  expressions  of  the 
sacred  text,  through  the  medium  of  a  metaphorical  inter- 
pretation. These  efforts  resulted  in  a  new  method  of 
Koranic  exegesis,  to  which  was  given  the  old  name  ta'wil 


i 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  115 

in  the  sense  of  figurative  interpretation,  an  exegetical 
trend,  against  which  the  Hanbalites  at  all  times 
protested.^ 

In  the  case  of  traditions  they  could  resort  to  the 
method  of  rejecting  as  false,  texts  which  reflected  a  too 
crude  anthropomorphic  representation,  or  gave  rise  to 
such.  In  this  way  Islam  was  to  be  freed  from  a  whole 
mass  of  foolish  fables,  which,  favored  by  the  greed  for 
fables  in  the  popular  circles,  had  been  piled  up  in  the  field 
of  eschatology,  and  in  the  form  of  hadiths  had  received 
religious  sanction.  From  a  dogmatic  point  of  view 
nothing  has  been  so  strongly  stressed  by  the  orthodox, 
as  the  conception  founded  on  the  words  of  the  Koran, 
Sura  75,  v.  23,  that  the  just  should  see  God  bodily 
in  the  other  world.  This  the  Mu^tazilites  could  not 
accept.  They  were  little  impressed  by  the  fine  defini- 
tions, refusing  every  taVil,  which  finds  this  idea  of 
*  sight'  in  the  tradition:  *'as  you  see  the  bright  moon  in 
the  firmament.''"  The  material  vision  of  God — an  idea 
from  which  the  Mu^tazilites  eliminated  the  direct  literal 
sense  by  a  spiritual  explanation  of  the  phrase — con- 
tinued to  be  a  real  apple  of  discord  between  them  and 
such  theologians  as  were  imbued  with  their  ideas,  and  the 
orthodox,  clinging  to  the  old  tradition,  with  whom  the 
conciliatory  rationalists  united  in  this  question.  Of  these 
more  will  be  said  in  the  course  of  this  chapter. 

VII.  In  phases  of  the  problem  involved  in  the  question 
of  tauhld,  the  confession  of  unity,  the  Mu^tazilites  passed 
on  to  a  still  higher  general  point  of  view,  raising  in  a 
very  comprehensive  manner  the  question  of  the  divine 
attributes.  Is  it  possible  to  ascribe  attributes  to  Godj 
without  disturbing  the  belief  in  his  individual  unchang- 
ing unity! 

The  answer  to  this  question  called  forth  a  great 
expenditure  of  hairsplitting  dialectic  on  the  part  of  the 
various  Mu^tazilite  schools  themselves, — for  they  offer 


116  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

no  definite  unity  in  the  various  definitions  of  their 
dogmas, — and  also  on  the  part  of  those  who  tried  to 
mediate  between  the  orthodox  point  of  view  and  their 
own.  For  we  must  anticipate  here — to  which  we  will 
later  return — that  from  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury conciliatory  tradition  arose  which  poured  a  few 
drops  of  rationalism  into  the  oil  of  orthodoxy,  in  order 
to  save  the  old  formulas  from  the  unfettered  rational 
views.  The  formulations  of  the  orthodox  dogmas  atten- 
uated by  a  few  rationalistic  phrases,  which  in  their 
essence  signify  a  return  to  traditional  orthodoxy,  are 
linked  with  the  names  of  Ahu-l-Hasan  al-Ash^ art  (d.  in 
Baghdad  324/935)  and  Ahii  Mansur  al-Mdturidl  (d.  in 
Samarkand  333/944).  While  the  system  of  the  former 
holds  sway  in  the  central  provinces  of  Islamic  territory, 
that  of  the  latter  gained  its  hold  in  the  wider  east,  in 
Central  Asia.  There  are  no  essential  differences  between 
the  two  tendencies.  It  is  mostly  a  question  of  minor 
quarrels  over  words,  of  whose  extent  we  can  get  an  idea 
if  we  look  at  the  following  questions  of  difference  as 
examples :  The  question  should  a  Moslem  use  the  mode 
of  speech,  ^^I  am  a  true  believer,  so  please  God,''  was 
decided  by  the  followers  of  al-Ash^ari  and  Maturidi  in 
a  contradictory  manner,  each  one  substantiating  his  views 
by  a  dozen  subtle  theological  arguments.  In  general  the 
point  of  view  of  the  Maturidi  is  freer  than  that  of  their 
Ash^arite  colleagues.  They  are  a  shade  nearer  the 
Mu^tazilites  than  the  Ash^arites.  Let  us  take  as  an 
example  the  various  answers  given  to  the  question: 
**what  is  the  basis  of  the  obligation  to  know  God?'' 

The  Mu^tazilites  answer:  ^'Reason";  the  Ash^ arites : 
^^ because  it  is  written  one  must  recognize  God";  the 
Maturidi:  ''The  obligation  to  confess  God  is  based  on 
the  divine  command,  which  is  grasped  by  reason;  reason 
is  not  the  source,  but  the  instrument  of  the  conception  of 
God." 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  117 

This  example  gives  us  a  good  idea  of  the  whole  scho- 
lastic method  of  dogmatic  strife  in  Islam. 

In  the  further  hairsplitting  definition  regarding 
homousia  and  homoiousia,  extending  even  to  single  let- 
ters, we  are  reminded  of  the  minute  verbal  disputes  of 
the  Byzantine  theologians.  Can  we  impute  attributes  to 
God?  To  do  so  would  bring  about  a  division  in  the 
essential  unity  of  God.  If  one  thinks  of  an  attribute,  as 
one  naturally  does  in  relation  to  God,  as  not  separate 
from  his  essence, — not  added  to  it  but  inherent  in  it 
from  eternity,  there  would  follow  from  the  simple  predi- 
cation of  such  eternal  entities,  even  though  belonging  to 
the  essence  of  God  and  inseparable  from  it,  the  admission 
of  an  eternal  essence  by  the  side  of  an  eternal  God.  But 
this  would  be  shirk,  i.  e.,  association  of  something  with 
God.  The  postulate  of  the  tauMd,  of  the  pure  confes- 
sion of  unity,  involves  the  rejection  of  attributes  in  God, 
whether  of  eternal  inherent  attributes  or  such  as  are 
added  to  his  being.  This  method  of  reasoning  led  neces- 
sarily to  the  denial  of  attributes.  God  cannot  be  omnis- 
cient through  Knowledge,  nor  omnipotent  through  Power, 
nor  existing  through  a  Life.  There  is  no  separate  knowl- 
edge, power  and  life  in  God.  All  things  which  appear 
to  us  as  attributes  are  inseparably  one,  and  not  different 
from  God  himself.  ^^God  is  knowing"  is  nothing  else 
than  that  *^God  is  powerful,'^  and  ^^God  is  loving,'' 
and  if  we  increased  these  expressions  indefinitely,  we 
would  nevertheless  assert  nothing  more  than  that  God  is. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  such  considerations  served  to 
place  the  monotheistic  idea  of  Islam  in  a  purer  light 
than  was  possible  in  the  obscuring  of  the  idea  through 
popular  beliefs  that  cling  to  the  letter.  But  to  the  ortho- 
dox this  purification  necessarily  appeared  as  ta'til,  i.  e., 
robbing  the  conception  of  God  of  its  content,  a  genuine 
kenosis. 


118  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

An  orthodox  of  the  old  school  who  flourished  when 
this  dogmatic  strife  was  at  its  beginning  naively  char- 
acterizes the  thesis  of  his  rationalistic  opponents  by  the 
statement:  *^The  arguments  of  these  people  result  in 
having  no  God  in  heaven.''  The  absolute  is  not  acces- 
sible, not  knowable.  If  God  is  to  be  identified  with  his 
attributes  conceived  as  a  unity,  then  one  could  pray: 
**0h,  knowledge,  have  pity  upon  me!''  And  further- 
more, the  rejection  of  the  attributes  constantly  clashes 
with  the  clear  Koranic  sayings,  which  speak  of  God's 
wisdom,  his  power,  etc.  These  attributes,  therefore,  can, 
indeed  must,  be  predicated  of  him.  To  deny  them  is 
undisguised  error,  unbelief  and  heresy. 

It  was  now  the  task  of  the  intermediary  to  reconcile 
the  rigid  denial  of  the  rationalists  with  the  old  concep- 
tion of  attributes  through  acceptable  formulas.  The 
people  who  wander  in  al-Ash'ari's  intermediary  paths, 
found  the  formula:  God  knows  through  a  knowledge 
which  is  not  separate  from  his  essence ;  the  supplemen- 
tary clause  was  intended  to  dogmatically  save  the  pos- 
sibility of  attributes.  But  we  are  far  from  being  through 
with  the  hairsplitting  formulas.  The  Maturidis  also 
strive  to  erect  a  connecting  bridge  between  the  ortho- 
dox and  the  Mu^tazilites,  while  accepting  in  a  general 
way  the  agnostic  formulation  that  there  are  attributes 
in  God  for  they  are  set  forth  in  the  Koran,  but  that  it 
is  impossible  to  say  either  that  they  are  identical  with 
God,  or  that  they  are  separate  from  God;  nevertheless 
the  Ash^aritic  conception  of  the  doctrine  of  attributes 
appeared  to  some  of  them  as  a  formula  derogatory  to 
the  deity.  God  is  knowing  through  his  eternal  knowl- 
edge. Does  not  the  expression  ^through'  give  the  im- 
pression of  something  instrumental!  Is  not  the  knowl- 
edge, the  power,  the  will  of  God,  all  those  divine  energies 
which  form  the  complete  fullness  of  his  essence,  made 
manifest  immediately,  and  if  so  is  not  this  conception  of 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  119 

an  immediate  manifestation  offset  by  the  little  syllable 
hi  (through),  which  in  speech  has  the  function  of  an 
instrumental  particle?  In  their  dread  of  grammatically 
belittling  the  majesty  of  God,  the  sheikhs  of  Samarkand 
resort  to  the  subtle  method  of  expressing  the  interme- 
diary formula  thus :  '  ^  He  is  knowing  and  has  knowledge, 
which  is  attributed  to  him  in  the  sense  of  eternity,  etc." 

It  is  evident  that  the  Islamic  theologians  in  Syria  and 
Mesopotamia  did  not  live  in  vain  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  dialecticians  of  the  conquered  nations. 

VIII.  The  conception  of  the  Word  of  God  formed  one 
of  the  most  serious  objects  of  this  dogmatic  strife.  How 
is  it  to  be  understood  that  the  attribute  of  speech  is  to 
be  ascribed  to  God,  and  how  is  the  activity  of  this  attri- 
bute to  be  explained  through  the  revelation  embodied  in 
the  sacred  writings? 

Although  these  questions  belong  to  the  doctrine  of 
attributes,  they  are  nevertheless  treated  separately  as 
an  independent  bit  of  dogmatic  speculation,  and  at  an 
early  period  formed  an  object  of  dispute  independent 
of  the  connection  with  the  question  of  attributes. 

Orthodoxy  answers  such  questions  as  follows :  * '  Speech 
is  an  eternal  attribute  of  God.  As  such,  like  his  knowl- 
edge, his  power  and  other  traits  of  his  eternal  essence,  it 
had  no  beginning  and  was  never  interrupted.  Accord- 
ing to  this,  that  which  is  to  be  recognized  as  the  activity 
of  a  speaking  God,  his  revelation, — primarily  in  Islam, 
the  Koran, — did  not  arise  within  time,  through  a  special 
creative  act  of  the  will  of  God,  but  is  from  eternity.  The  j 
Koran  is  uncreated, — an  orthodox  dogma  maintained  upj 
till  the  present  time.  < 

According  to  this,  it  is  naturally  to  be  expected  that 
the  Mu^tazilites  will  discover  here  also  a  breach  of  mono- 
theistic purism.  In  the  anthropomorphic  attribute  indi- 
cated by  the  expression  ^*the  speaking  one''  ascribed 
to  God,  equivalent  to  the  recognition  of  an  eternal  being 


120  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

beside  God,  they  saw  nothing  less  than  the  negation  of 
the  unity  of  the  divine  being.  In  this  case  the  opposition 
gained  in  popularity,  since  it  does  not  (as  in  the  ordinary 
questions  of  attributes)  merely  treat  of  abstract  things, 
but  moves  something  that  is  entirely  concrete  into  the 
foreground  of  speculation.  Separated  from  the  strife 
over  attributes,  in  which  it  had  its  origin,  the  burden  of 
the  question  resolves  itself  into  this  formula:  **Is  the 
Koran  created,  or  uncreated!''  This  formulation  of  the 
question  was  bound  to  arouse  the  interest  of  even  the 
most  ordinary  Moslem,  despite  the  fact  that  the  answer 
involves  a  series  of  considerations  to  which  he  would  be 
entirely  indifferent. 

The  Mu^tazilites  conceived  for  the  explanation  of  the 
** speaking  God''  a  very  remarkable  mechanical  theory, 
which  as  it  were  carried  them  from  ^'the  frying  pan 
into  the  fire."  It  cannot  be  the  voice  of  God  which 
manifests  itself  to  the  prophet,  when  he  feels  God's 
revelation  working  in  him  through  his  organs  of  hearing. 
It  is  a  created  sound.  When  God  desires  to  declare  him- 
self phonetically,  he  does  it  by  a  special  act  of  creation, 
and  communicates  speech  through  a  material  substratum. 
This  the  prophet  hears.  It  is  not  the  immediate  speech 
of  God  but  something  created  by  him,  manifesting  itself 
indirectly,  and  corresponding  to  the  will  of  God  in  its 
i  content.  This  view  provided  the  form  for  their  theme 
'  of  the  ^^ created  Koran,"  which  they  opposed  to  the 
orthodox  dogma  of  the  ^^  eternal,  uncreated  word  of 
God." 

Over  none  of  the  Mu^tazilite  innovations  did  such  a 
violent  strife  rage  as  over  this, — a  strife  which  passed 
beyond  scholastic  bounds  and  made  itself  felt  in  every- 
day life.  The  caliph  Ma'mun  espoused  the  cause,  and 
as  the  chief  priest  of  the  state  he  decreed,  with  threats 
of  severe  punishment,  the  acceptance  of  the  belief  in  the 
creation  of  the  Koran.    His  successor  MuHasim  followed 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  121 

in  his  steps,  and  the  orthodox  theologians,  and  those 
who  declined  to  take  sides,  were  subjected  to  tortures, 
vexations,  and  imprisonment.  Willing  Kadis  and  other 
officers  of  religion  took  upon  themselves  the  office  of 
inquisitors,  in  order  to  annoy  and  persecute  the  unyield- 
ing adherents  of  the  orthodox  formula,  and  also  those 
who  did  not  declare  themselves  decisively  enough  for  the 
only  saving  belief  in  the  creation  of  the  Koran. 

An  American  scholar,  Walter  M.  Patton,  has  set  forth 
in  an  admirable  work,  published  in  1897,  the  course  of 
this  rationalistic  inquisitorial  movement  as  illustrated  by 
a  thorough  study  of  the  fate  of  the  man,  whose  name  has 
become  the  rallying  cry  of  Moslem  rigorism,  the  Imam 
Ahmed  ihn  Hanhal}  I  have  said  elsewhere  and  can 
repeat  it  here:  ^^The  Inquisitors  of  liberalism  went  if 
possible,  to  greater  extremes  than  their  brothers  who 
clung  to  the  letter.  At  all  events  their  fanaticism  is 
more  repulsive  than  that  of  their  imprisoned  and  ill- 
treated  victims.''^ 

It  was  not  until  the  time  of  the  Caliph  Mutawakkil,  a 
repulsive  reactionary  who  knew  well  how  to  combine  a 
life  of  debauch  and  the  patronage  of  obscene  literature 
with  dogmatic  orthodoxy,  that  the  adherents  of  the  old 
dogma  were  able  to  again  raise  their  heads.  From  being 
persecuted  they  now  become  the  persecutors,  and  they 
know  well  how  to  turn  the  old  principle  derived  from 
experience  ^S^ae  victis''  to  the  greater  glory  of  Allah. 
This  was  the  time  of  political  decline, — the  time  which 
has  ever  been  the  harvest  season  for  the  foes  of  enlight- 
enment. The  dogma  of  the  uncreated  Koran  continues 
to  spread.  One  is  no  longer  satisfied  with  a  general 
formulation  of  the  dogma,  indefinite  in  its  statement, 
that  the  Koran  is  eternal  and  uncreated.  What  is  the 
uncreated  Koran?  Is  it  the  thought  of  God,  the  will  of 
God,  which  finds  its  expression  in  this  book?  Is  it  the 
definite  text,  which  God  has  imparted  to  the  prophet, 


122  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

'4n  distinct  Arabic  language  without  any  obscurity  T' 
In  the  course  of  time  orthodoxy  became  very  aggressive 
in  the  contention  that  **that  which  is  between  the  two 
covers  is  the  word  of  God,  therefore  the  conception  of 
the  uncreated  includes  also  the  manuscript  copy  of  the 
Koran  with  its  letters  formed  in  ink  and  written  on  paper. 
And  that  also  which  is  ^^read  aloud  at  the  prayers, '* 
that  is,  the  daily  Koran  recitation,  as  it  proceeds  from 
the  mouth  of  the  faithful,  is  not  different  from  the 
eternal,  uncreated  word  of  God.  At  this  point  the  inter- 
mediary Ash^arites  and  Maturidis  made  a  few  conces- 
sions dictated  by  reason.  Al-Ash^ari  had  advanced  the 
theme  in  considering  the  main  question:  God's  speech 
(kalam)  is  eternal;  but  this  refers  only  to  spiritual 
speech  (kalam  nafsi)  as  an  eternal  attribute  of  God, 
which  has  had  no  beginning,  nor  has  ever  been  inter- 
rupted. On  the  other  hand  the  revelation  made  to  the 
prophets  as  well  as  other  forms  of  manifestation  of 
the  divine  word,  were  in  each  case  the  expression  of  the 
eternal,  unceasing  speech  of  God.^  He  applies  this 
notion  to  every  material  manifestation  of  revelation. 

Let  us  hear  what  Maturidi  says  of  the  view  of  those 
desiring  to  find  a  middle  way  in  these  questions :  ^^"When 
it  is  asked :  What  is  that  which  is  written  in  the  copy  of 
the  Koran?  we  say:  ^It  is  the  word  of  God;  therefore 
also  that  which  is  recited  in  the  mosque  and  which  issues 
from  the  mouth  (organs  of  speech)  is  the  word  of  God; 
but  the  (written)  letters  and  the  sound,  the  melodies 
and  the  voices  are  created  things.'  This  limitation  is 
advanced  by  the  sheikhs  of  Samarkand.  The  Ash^  arites, 
however,  say :  ^  That  w^hich  appears  written  in  the  copy 
of  the  Koran  is  not  the  word  of  God,  but  a  communica- 
tion of  this  word,  a  narration  of  that  which  is  the  word 
of  God.'  They  therefore  hold  the  burning  of  certain 
parts  of  a  written  copy  of  the  Koran  as  permissible 
since  it  is  not  in  itself  the  word  of  God.     They  base 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  123 

this  on  the  fact  that  the  word  of  God  is  his  attribute. 
His  attribute  cannot  be  separated  from  him  in  manifesta- 
tion. Therefore  what  appears  in  a  separated  form,  as 
the  content  of  a  written  page,  cannot  be  regarded  as  the 
word  of  God.  But  we  (the  Maturidis)  say  to  that:  *this 
assertion  of  the  Ash'arites  is  much  more  inane,  than 
that  of  the  Mu'tazilites.*  '* 

From  this  it  can  be  seen,  that  those  taking  a  middle 
ground  do  not  agree  among  themselves.  Orthodoxy  is 
much  more  consistent  in  extending  indefinitely  the  circle 
included  in  the  doctrine  of  the  uncreated  word  of  God. 
The  formula  ''my  utterance  of  the  Koran  is  created" 
became  an  arch  heresy  to  them.  A  pious  man  like 
Bukhari,  whose  canon  of  tradition  is  to  the  true  believer 
the  next  holiest  book  to  the  Koran,  was  exposed  to  annoy- 
ances because  he  considered  such  formulas  admissible.* 

Al-Ash'ari  himself,  to  whose  followers  as  we  have 
already  seen,  is  ascribed  a  slightly  freer  tendency  in  the 
definition  of  the  word  of  God,  did  not  sustain  his  ration- 
alistic formulas.  In  the  last  definite  statement  of  his 
belief  he  speaks  thus : 

The  Koran  is  on  the  well-guarded  (heavenly)  scroll,  it  is 
in  the  breast  of  him  to  whom  knowledge  is  given ;  it  is  read  by 
the  tongue,  it  is  written  in  books  forsooth,  it  is  recited  by  our 
tongues  forsooth;  it  is  heard  by  us  forsooth,  as  it  is  written. 
"And  when  an  idolator  comes  to  you  for  protection,  offer  him 
protection  that  he  may  hear  the  word  of  God"  (Sura  9,  v.  6), 
what  you  say  to  him  are  therefore  God's  own  words.  That  is  to 
say :  All  this  is  identical  in  essence  with  the  word  of  God  writ- 
ten on  the  heavenly  scroll,  which  is  uncreated,  from  eternity,  in 
truth  (fi-1-liakikat)  ;  not  in  a  figurative  sense,  not  in  the  sense 
that  all  this  is  a  copy,  a  quotation,  a  communication  of  the 
heavenly  original.  No:  all  this  is  identical  with  the  heavenly 
original;  what  is  true  of  this,  is  true  also  of  the  local  and 
temporal  forms  of  phenomena  apparently  produced  by  man.^ 


124  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

IX.  In  view  ^f  this  character  of  the  Mu^  tazilite  move- 
ment, these  students  of  the  philosophy  of  religion  may 
lay  claim  to  the  title  of  ^^Eationalists."  We  will  not 
disparage  this  title.  They  have  the  merit  of  being  the 
first  in  Islam  to  raise  keason  to  the  position  of  a  beli- 
Gious  souKCE  OF  KNOWLEDGE;  the  first,  indeed,  to  have 
undisguisedly  recognized  the  use  of  scepticism  as  the 
first  impetus  to  knowledge. 

Can  they  on  this  account  be  also  called  liberal?  That 
title,  indeed,  must  be  denied  them,  since  they  are  the  real 
founders  of  dogmatism  in  Islam  by  virtue  of  their  for- 
mulas which  run  contrary  to  the  orthodox  principle.  He 
who  seeks  salvation  must  preserve  faith  only  in  these 
fixed  formulas,  and  no  others.  They  endeavored  to 
(  harmonize  (by  their  definitions)  religion  and  reason; 
but  they  produced  narrow,  uncompromising  formulas, 
which  they  opposed  to  the  more  elastic  traditionalism  of 
the  old  believers,  and  which  they  defended  with  tiresome 
^disputations.  Moreover,  they  were  intolerant  to  the 
extreme.  Dogmatism  always  embodies  an  innate  tend- 
ency toward  intolerance.  When  the  Mu^tazilites  were 
fortunate  enough  to  have  their  teachings  accepted  as  the 
dogma  of  the  state  during  the  rule  of  three  ^Abbaside 
caliphs,  these  dogmas  were  maintained  by  the  inquisi- 
tion, by  imprisonment  and  by  terrorism,  until  a  counter 
movement  afforded  opportunity  to  breathe  freely  again 
to  those  who  believed  they  possessed  in  religion  the  sub- 
stance of  pious  tradition,  not  the  results  of  doubtful 
rationalistic  theories. 

A  few  quotations  will  show  the  intolerant  spirit  of  the 
MuHazilite  theologians.  *'He  who  is  not  a  MuHazilite 
is  not  to  be  called  a  believer, '^  is  a  definite  expression 
of  one  of  their  teachings.  This  is  a  result  of  their  gen- 
eral teaching  to  the  effect  that  no  one  can  be  called  a 
believer  who  does  not  fathom  God  *4n  the  way  of  specu- 
lation.''    According  to  this,  the  common  people  with 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  125 

their  naive  beliefs  have  no  part  with  Moslems.  There 
can  be  no  belief  without  the  operation  of  reason.  The 
question  ^  ^  takf ir-al-' awamm, ' '  '^who  shall  be  condemned 
as  unorthodox  of  the  people  in  general/'  is  a  standing 
formula  in  the  Mu^  tazilite  science  of  religion.  There  are 
those  who  assert  that  a  person  should  not  perform  his 
prayers  behind  a  naive  believer  who  does  not  reason, 
that  would  be  equivalent  to  performing  one's  worship 
behind  some  godless  heretic.  A  famous  member  of  this 
school,  Mu^ammar  ibn  ^Abbad,  reckoned  everyone  un- 
believing, who  did  not  share  his  view  of  attributes  and 
freedom  of  will.  From  the  same  point  of  view  another 
pious  Mu' tazilite,  Abu-Musa  al-Mazdar,  whom  we  could 
regard  as  an  example  of  the  pietistic  beginnings  in  this 
direction,  declares  his  own  views  as  the  only  ones  which 
will  insure  salvation.  One  could,  therefore,  accuse  him 
of  upholding  that  only  he  and,  at  most  three  of  his 
scholars,  could  enter  into  the  paradise  of  the  true 
believers.^ 

It  was  indeed  fortunate  for  Islam  that  the  time  during 
which  the  state  favored  such  opinions  was  limited  to 
those  three  caliphs.  How  far  might  not  the  Mu^tazilites 
have  gone,  if  they  had  had  the  ruling  power  longer  at 
their  command  to  foster  their  views.  The  teachings  of 
Hisham  al-Futi,  one  of  the  most  radical  opponents  of 
the  acceptance  of  these  views  concerning  the  divine 
attributes  and  of  fatalism,  shows  us  from  what  point 
of  view  the  subject  was  regarded.  *^He  considered 
it  admissible,  treacherously  to  kill  those  who  opposed 
his  teachings ;  secretly  or  openly  to  deprive  them  of  their 
power, — as  unbelievers  their  life  and  power  were  for- 
feit."^ These  are  naturally  only  theories  of  the  school- 
room, but  these  theories  went  so  far  as  to  advance  the 
idea  that  the  territories  in  which  the  Mu*  tazilite  faith 
did  not  rule,  were  to  be  regarded  as  hostile  lands  (dar 
al-harb).    In  place  of  the  division  of  the  world  into  seven 


126  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

climates  the  Moslem  geography  offers  a  more  circum- 
scribed division,  viz.,  ^Hhose  in  Islamic  lands  and  in 
hostile  lands.  ^'^  To  the  second  category  belong  all  the 
territories  whose  inhabitants  in  spite  of  the  call  (da'wa) 
which  has  come  to  them  to  confess  Islam,  remain  unbe- 
lievers. It  is  the  duty  of  the  head  of  Islam  to  attack 
such  territories.  This  is  the  Jihad,  religious  war,  com- 
manded in  the  Koran,  one  of  the  surest  ways  to  martyr- 
dom. Many  a  Mu^tazilite  included  in  these  ^'hostile 
lands,''  those  lands  which  were  not  controlled  by  their 
formulas  of  dogma.  They  should  be  attacked  with  the 
sword,  as  in  the  case  of  unbelievers  and  heathens.* 

This  is  indeed  a  very  energetic  rationalism.  Never- 
theless we  cannot  praise  as  advocates  of  liberal  and 
tolerant  views,  those  whose  teachings  were  the  point  of 
departure  and  soil  of  such  fanaticism.  Unfortunately, 
the  historians  of  the  virtues  of  the  Mu^tazilites  do  not 
always  think  of  this,  and  in  many  a  casuistically  phan- 
tastic  description  of  a  possible  development  of  Islam  the 
attempt  is  made  to  show  how  favorable  it  would  have 
been  for  the  unfolding  of  Islam,  if  the  Mu^tazilites  had 
obtained  possession  of  the  leading  spiritual  power.  After 
what  we  have  just  heard,  it  would  be  difficult  to  believe 
this.  We  must  not  deny,  however,  that  the  result  of 
their  activity  was  salutary.  They  are  the  ones  who 
helped  to  procure  the  recognition  of  ^aM  reason,  in  ques- 
tions of  belief.  This  is  their  undisputed,  and  far  reach- 
ing service,  which  assures  to  them  an  important  place 
in  the  history  of  the  religion  and  culture  of  Islam.  In 
spite  of  all  difficulties  and  repudiations  the  claim  of  ^akl 
made  its  way  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  as  a  result  of 
their  aggressiveness,  even  into  orthodox  Islam.  It  was 
no  longer  easy  entirely  to  avoid  it. 

X.  Up  to  this  point  we  have  repeatedly  mentioned 
the  names  of  the  two  Imams  Ahu-l-Hasan  al-Ash^ari  and 
Abu  Mansur  al-Mdturldl.     These  two  men,  the  former 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  127 

in  the  heart  of  the  caliphate,  the  latter  in  Central  Asia, 
settled  through  mediating  formulas  the  controversial 
questions  of  dogmatism, — formulas  now  recognized  as 
doctrines  of  orthodox  Islam.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
enter  into  the  minute  points  of  difference  between  these 
two  closely  allied  systems.  The  first  system  obtained 
historical  importance.  Its  founder,  himself  a  Mu^tazilite 
scholar, — legend  speaks  of  a  vision  in  which  the  prophet 
appeared  to  him  and  instigated  this  change, — suddenly 
became  disloyal  to  his  school,  and  openly  returned  to  the 
bosom  of  orthodoxy.  He  and  others  of  his  school  dissemi- 
nated the  same  conciliatory  formulas,  of  more  or  less 
orthodox  stamp.  Nevertheless,  even  these  were  unable 
to  satisfy  the  taste  of  the  old  conservatives,  and  for  a 
long  time  they  could  not  find  entrance  into  the  public 
theological  instruction.  It  was  not  until  the  famous 
Seljuk  vizier,  Nizam  al-mulk,  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century,  created  public  chairs  for  the  new  theological 
teachings,  in  his  great  schools  at  Nisabur  and  Baghdad, 
that  the  Ash^arite  dogma  became  officially  recognized 
and  was  taught  in  the  system  of  orthodox  theology.  Its 
most  famous  advocates  could  receive  appointments  in  the 
Nizam-institutions.  It  was  here  that  the  victory  of  the 
Ash^arite  school,  warring  on  one  side  with  the  Mu^tazil- 
ites  and  on  the  other  with  intransigent  orthodoxy,  was 
determined.  The  activity  of  these  places  of  teaching 
marks  an  important  epoch,  not  only  in  the  history  of 
Moslem  instruction,  but  also  in  that  of  Moslem  dogma- 
tism.   Let  us  consider  this  movement  more  closely. 

In  speaking  of  al-Ash*ari  as  one  who  took  the  middle 
way,  this  characterization  of  his  theological  trend  does 
not  extend  to  all  questions  of  doctrine  over  which  the 
controversy  of  contradictory  interpretations  arose  in  the 
Islamic  world  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries.  It  is 
true  he  advances  midway  formulas  also  concerning  the 
questions  of  the  freedom  of  the  will  and  the  nature  of 


128  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  Koran.  But  the  position  which  he  takes  in  a  question 
which  concerns  more  deeply  than  any  other  the  religious 
views  of  the  masses,  must  be  regarded  as  the  most 
authoritative  for  the  indication  of  his  theological  atti- 
tude. I  refer  to  the  definition  of  the  idea  of  God  in  its 
relation  to  anthropomorphism. 

Indeed  one  cannot  call  his  position  in  relation  to  this 
question  conciliatory.  Fortunately,  we  possess  a  com- 
pendium of  the  teachings  of  this  greatest  of  dogmatic 
authorities  in  orthodox  Islam,  in  which  he  presents  hif, 
teachings  in  a  positive  form,  as  well  as  his  polemica' 
replies  to  the  opposing  opinions  of  the  Mu'tazilites, — 
and  it  must  be  added,  not  without  fanatical  fury.  This 
important  treatise,^  supposed  to  have  been  lost  and  which 
till  lately  has  been  known  only  through  fragmentary 
quotations,  has  become  accessible  in  the  last  few  years 
through  a  complete  edition  published  in  Haidarabad.  It 
is  a  treatise  of  fundamental  importance  for  everyone 
who  is  interested  in  the  history  of  Islamic  dogmatics.  In 
the  introduction  al-Ash^ari's  relation  to  rationalism 
becomes  doubtful: 

The  religious  position  to  which  we  adhere  is  the  acceptance 
of  the  book  of  our  God,  of  the  Sunna  of  our  prophet,  and  in 
addition,  of  that  which  has  reached  us  concerning  his  compan- 
ions and  their  successors  and  the  Imams  of  tradition.  In  this  we 
find  our  strong  support.  And  we  adhere  to  that  which  Abti- 
'Abdallah  Ahmed  Muhammed  ibn  Hanbal  (may  God  make  his 
face  to  shine,  and  may  he  elevate  his  rank,  and  make  rich  his 
reward),  teaches  us  and  we  oppose  everything  which  his  teaching 
opposes ;  for  he  is  the  most  eminent  Imam  and  the  most  perfect 
head;  through  him  has  Allah  made  clear  the  truth  and  taken 
away  error,  made  clear  the  right  way  and  put  to  naught  the 
evil  teachings  of  the  heretic  and  the  doubt  of  the  doubter.  May 
God  have  mercy  upon  him!  He  is  the  chief  Imam  and  the 
exalted  friend. 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  129 

At  the  very  beginning,  then,  of  his  credo  al  Ash^ari 
declared  himself  a  Hanbalite.  This  does  not,  to  be  sure, 
suggest  a  middle  way.  In  fact  when  he  takes  up  the 
anthropomorphic  question,  he  pours  the  whole  vial  of 
his  scorn  upon  the  rationalists,  who  seek  a  figurative 
explanation  for  the  sensuous  words  of  the  sacred  texts. 
He  does  not  stop  with  the  severity  of  the  orthodox 
dogmatisers,  but  turns  to  the  philologists.  God  himself 
says  that  he  has  revealed  the  Koran  *4n  clear  Arabic 
language " ;  it  can  then  be  understood  only  on  the  basis 
of  the  correct  Arabic  usage.  But  where  in  all  the  world, 
would  any  Arab  have  used  the  word  ^*hand,''  etc.,  for 
good- will,  and  have  made  use  of  all  that  artificial  speech, 
which  those  rationalists  wish  to  read  into  the  clear  text, 
in  order  to  rob  its  contents  of  the  conception  of  God! 
*^Abu-l-Hasan  'Ali  ibn  Isma'il  al-Ash'ari  says:  We 
seek  right  guidance  through  God,  and  in  him  do  we  find 
all  that  we  need,  and  there  is  no  might  nor  power,  except 
with  Allah,  and  it  is  on  him  that  we  call  for  aid.  But 
this  is  what  follows:  When  someone  asks  us:  ^Has 
God  a  facer  we  answer:  'He  has  one,'  and  thus  con- 
tradict wrong  teaching,  for  it  is  written:  'The  face  of 
the  Lord  endures  full  of  majesty  and  honor'  (Sura  55, 
V.  27).  And  when  someone  else  asks :  '  Has  God  hands  T 
we  answer :  '  Indeed,  for  it  is  written :  the  hand  of  God 
is  above  their  hands'  (Sura  48,  v.  10),  furthermore, 
'that  which  I  have  created  with  my  two  hands'  (Sura  38, 
V.  74).  And  it  is  reported:  'God  stroked  Adam's  back 
with  his  hand  and  brought  forth  from  it  the  whole  of 
the  descendants  of  Adam.'  And  it  is  reported:  'God 
formed  Adam  with  his  hand,  and  formed  the  Garden  of 
Eden  with  his  hand,  and  planted  therein  the  tree  Tuba 
with  his  hand,  and  he  wrote  the  Torah  with  his  hand.' 
And  it  is  written  'both  his  hands  are  stretched  forth' 
(Sura  5,  v.  69) ;  and  in  the  words  of  the  prophet:  'both 


130  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

his  hands   are  right  hands.'     Thus  literally  and  not 
otherwise. ' ' 

In  order  to  avoid  gross  anthropomorphism,  he  adds 
the  clause  to  his  credo  that  by  face,  hand,  foot,  etc.,  in 
these  cases  we  are  not  to  understand  human  members, 
and  that  all  this  should  be  taken  as  hild  heif,  without 
questioning,  ''without  a  how''  (see  above).  This  does 
not  smack  of  a  middle  way,  it  corresponds  entirely  to 
the  old  orthodoxy;  nor  does  it  represent  a  conciliatory 
position  between  Ibn  Hanbal  and  the  Mu' tazilites ;  on 
the  contrary,  as  appears  from  the  introductory  explana- 
tion of  al  Ash'ari,  it  is  an  unconditional  surrender  of  the 
Mu'tazilite  renegades  to  the  views  of  the  unbending 
Imam  of  the  traditionalists  and  that  of  his  successors. 
Because  of  his  wide-spread  concessions  to  the  beliefs  of 
the  people,  he  forfeited  for  the  Mohammedan  people  the 
important  achievements  of  the  Mu'tazilites.-  From  his 
point  of  view  the  belief  in  magic,  in  witchcraft,  not  to 
mention  the  miracles  of  the  saints,  remains  intact.  All 
these  things  the  Mu'tazilites  had  swept  aside. 

XI.  The  conciliation,  which  forms  an  important  ele- 
ment in  the  history  of  Islamic  dogmatism  and  whose  sub- 
stance can  be  regarded  as  the  basis  of  dogmatic  precept, 
sanctioned  by  the  consensus  (ijmd'),  is  not  to  be  coupled 
with  the  name  of  al  Ash'ari  himself,  but  with  the  school 
which  bears  his  name. 

Even  by  deviation  in  the  direction  of  orthodoxy,  'aU, 
reason,  as  a  source  of  religious  knowledge,  could  no 
longer  be  set  aside.  We  have  just  seen  that  part  of 
al  Ash'ari's  confession,  in  which  he  expresses  himself 
in  a  dignified  manner  concerning  the  sources  of  his 
religious  knowledge.  Nothing  appears  there  as  to  the 
claims  of  reason,  even  as  a  subsidiary  means  to  the 
knowledge  of  truth.  The  school  is  quite  different. 
Although  not  so  irreconcilable  as  the  Mu'tazilites,  stiU 
here  the  nazar,  the  speculative  knowledge  of  God,  is 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  131 

claimed  for  all  the  world,  and  taklid, — the  simple, 
thoughtless  traditional  repetition, — is  condemned.  And 
in  connection  with  this  common  claim,  the  authoritative 
leaders  of  the  Ash^arite  school,  have  in  many  points  kept 
in  line  with  the  Mu^tazilites,  and  have  remained  true  to 
a  method,  which  as  I  have  just  shown,  their  Imam  not 
only  denounced,  dogmatically,  but  also  stormed  with 
arrows  which  he  had  drawn  from  the  quiver  of  philology. 
The  Ash^arite  theologians  have  payed  little  attention  to 
the  protests  of  the  master,  and  have  made  great  use  of 
the  method  of  ta'wU  (see  above).  In  no  other  way  could 
they  avoid  tajslm, — anthropomorphism.  The  claim  that 
the  Ash^arite  and  Hanbalite  conclusions  are  the  same, 
was  quite  impossible  of  proof.  But  what  would  al  Ash- 
lar! have  said  to  that  method  which  now  continued  to 
extend  its  influence  in  the  orthodox  trend  of  the  taVil? 
All  the  tricks  of  an  unnatural  hermeneutics  were  brought 
into  action  in  order  to  eliminate  from  the  Koran  and 
tradition  the  anthropomorphic  expression, — we  can  use 
no  other  word. 

As  far  as  the  Koran  was  concerned,  the  Mu^tazilites 
had  already  sufficiently  completed  the  necessary  work. 
They  cared  less  about  tradition.  In  this  regard  they 
found  an  easy  way  out  of  the  difficulty  arising  out  of 
utterances  in  which  there  were  objectionable  expressions, 
by  explaining  them  as  spurious,  and  so  not  troubling 
themselves  in  the  least  about  their  reasonable  interpreta- 
tion. In  this  effort,  however,  orthodox  theology  could 
not  participate,  and  the  emphasis  in  its  exegesis  is  prin- 
cipally placed  on  traditional  texts.  And  how  widespread 
had  anthropomorphism  become,  even  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  Hadith!  As  a  proof  the  following  may  be 
instanced  taken  from  the  collection  of  traditions  of 
Ahmed  ibn  Hanbal.  One  morning  the  prophet  appeared 
among  his  companions  with  a  very  happy  expression  on 
his  face.    When  he  was  asked  the  reason  of  his  happy 


132  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

mood,  lie  answered,  '^Why  should  I  not  be  happy? 
Last  night  the  most  Sublime  appeared  to  me  in  the  most 
beautiful  form  imaginable,  and  called  to  me  with  the 
question,  *Over  what  dost  thou  think  the  heavenly  com- 
munity is  now  disputing?'^  When  I  had  answered  for 
the  third  time  that  I  could  not  know,  he  laid  his  two  hands 
on  my  shoulders,  so  that  their  coolness  penetrated  even 
to  my  breast,  and  it  was  revealed  to  me,  what  is  in 
heaven  and  what  is  on  earth/'  Then  follow  declara- 
tions about  the  theological  discussions  of  the  heavenly 
company.^ 

It  would  indeed  have  been  a  useless  undertaking  to 
remove  such  crass  anthropomorphism  by  means  of  exe- 
gesis, and,  besides,  the  rationalistic  theologians  did  not 
feel  themselves  at  all  called  upon  to  consider  a  text  which, 
like  the  one  we  have  just  cited,  had  not  been  included  in 
the  canonical  collection.  Their  responsibility  is  greater 
toward  the  texts  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  canon, 
and  therefore  are  recognized  by  the  whole  community  of 
true  believers  as  authoritative.  On  these  they  used  their 
arts.  The  following  occurs  in  the  influential  collection 
of  Malik  ibn  Anas :  '  ^  Every  night  our  God  descends  to 
the  lowest  heaven  (there  are  seven),  when  a  third  of 
the  night  is  still  left,  and  says:  ^Who  has  a  request  to 
make  of  me,  that  I  may  grant  it ;  who  a  wish,  that  I  may 
fulfill  it;  who  cries  to  me  for  forgiveness  of  sins,  that  I 
may  forgive  them!'  "^  This  anthropomorphism  is  now 
disposed  of  by  a  grammatical  artifice,  which  is  made 
possible  by  the  peculiarity  of  the  ancient  Arabic  con- 
sonantal writing  in  which  the  vowels  are  not  written. 
Instead  of  yanzilu,^  **he  descends,''  they  read  the  causa- 
tive form,  yunzilu,  *^he  causes  someone  to  descend," 
that  is,  the  angels.  Thus  they  avoid  the  impression 
given  in  the  text  of  God's  change  of  place.  It  is  not  God 
who  descends,  but  he  causes  angels  to  descend,  and  make 
those  appeals  in  his  name.    Or  another  example,  from 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  133 

Genesis  I,  27,  Mohammedan  tradition  had  taken  over  the 
saying:  **God  created  Adam  in  his  image. '^  God  has 
no  form.  The  little  word  his  refers  to  Adam, — God 
created  him  in  the  form  which  he  (Adam)  maintained.^ 
These  examples  show  the  means  constantly  used  to  get 
rid  of  dogmatic  difficulties  by  means  of  grammatical 
subterfuges. 

In  like  manner  recourse  is  often  had  to  lexicographical 
devices,  in  which  the  many  significations  of  an  Arabic 
word  may  have  been  of  great  assistance.  Here  is  an 
example,  *  *  Hell  will  not  be  full,  until  the  Almighty  places 
his  foot  upon  it  (hell) ;  then  it  says :  *  enough,  enough.'  ''^ 
The  depth  of  ingenuity,  which  has  been  applied  to  the 
interpretation  of  this  text,  so  inimical  to  a  refined  con- 
ception of  God,  gives  us  a  perfect  example  of  the  her- 
meneutic  art  so  dear  to  the  Ash^arite  school.  First  of 
all  it  was  thought  that  a  purely  external  means  of  help 
could  be  found  in  the  fact  that  in  the  traditional  text 
the  subject  of  the  sentence:  ^^he  places  his  foot''  was 
replaced  by  a  pronoun :  ' '  Hell  is  not  full  until  he  places 
his  foot  upon  it."  Who!  that  is  left  in  the  dark;  at 
least  the  natural  predicate  is  not  connected  with  a  sub- 
ject which  would  mean  ^^God."  This  is  naturally  self- 
deception,  and  nothing  is  gained  by  it.  Others  wish  to 
remedy  this,  by  retaining  the  subject  al-jahdr,  the  Al- 
mighty, but  explaining  that  the  word  did  not  refer  to 
God.  They  can  easily  prove  from  the  language  of  the 
Koran  and  of  tradition  that  this  word  also  means  a 
stubborn  person.  So  the  jabar  who  places  his  foot  on 
hell  is  not  God,  but  some  violent  person,  a  man  sent  to 
hell,  whose  violent  intervention  brings  to  an  end  the 
populating  of  hell.  But  even  this  way  of  avoiding  the 
difficulty  proved,  on  serious  consideration,  very  illusive. 
The  meaning  of  the  traditional  saying  was  established  by 
a  number  of  parallel  versions,  and  thus  placed  beyond 
all  doubt.    In  many  parallel  texts,  instead  of  jabar,  Allah 


134  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

or  ^^tlie  lord  of  majesty'^is  expressly  used.  One  can- 
not get  out  of  this  cul-de-sac.  The  subject  must  be  God. 
But  what  does  not  the  dogmatic  exegete  attempt  in  his 
desperate  ingeniousness  f  His  art  failed  mth  the  sub- 
ject, he  now  tries  it  on  the  object.  He  (without  doubt 
then,  ^^God'')  places  his  foot:  kadamahu.  Must  this 
word  be  explained  as  foot  1  It  is  indeed  a  homonym,  and 
means  several  things.  Kadam  means  among  other  things, 
also  ^*a  group  of  people,  who  have  been  sent  in  advance,'' 
in  this  case  into  hell.  It  is  these  people,  then  (not  his 
foot)  whom  God  sets  in  hell.  But  an  authentic  parallel 
version  appears  which  unfortunately  substitutes  for  the 
word  kadamahu  a  synonym  rijlahu.  This  undoubtedly 
means:  ^^his  foot.''  There  is,  however,  no  ^^undoubt- 
edly" in  the  Arabic  lexicon.  The  same  word  can  mean 
so  many  things.  Rijl  also  means  jama'  a,  ^'the  congre- 
gation." Naturally  God  places  such  a  congregation  of 
sinners  at  the  gate  of  hell,  and  the  latter  cries :  ^*  enough, 
enough,  enough." 

Although  it  is  justifiable  to  call  the  process,  apparent 
in  this  short  extract,  an  example  of  exegetical  absurdity 
yet  the  exegetes  were  not  Mu^tazilites  but  Ash'arites  of 
the  deepest  dye.  How  the  founder  himself  would  have 
poured  forth  the  vials  of  philological  wrath  on  the  heads 
of  his  followers ! 

XII.  This  rationalistic  attempt  of  the  Ash^arite 
school,  however  welcome  it  was  as  the  escape  from  the 
tajsim  condemned  on  all  sides,  was  bound  to  call  forth 
decided  discontent  on  the  part  of  all  the  orthodox,  faith- 
ful to  tradition.  In  conjunction  with  this  there  is  another 
fact  of  importance  to  be  considered.  The  method  of  the 
Ash^arites  aroused  opposition  among  the  orthodox  theo- 
logians, because  of  the  teaching  which  they  had  in 
common  with  the  Mu^tazilites  and  which  is  the  essential 
basis  of  every  Kalam:  ^'that  a  demonstration  based  on 
traditional  factors  does  not  ensure  certain  knowledge." 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  135 

The  knowledge  which  depends  only  on  traditional 
sources,  is  uncertain;  it  is  dependent  on  factors  which 
can  have  only  a  relative  value  in  the  establishment  of 
the  facts,  as  for  example  of  the  subjective  factor  in  the 
interpretation  of  peculiarities  of  rhetorical  expression 
(tropes,  metaphors,  etc.).  Absolute  value  can  be  ascribed 
to  such  sources  of  knowledge  only  in  questions  of  legal 
practice,  and  even  here  they  afford  ground  for  variations 
in  regard  to  the  consequences.  In  questions  of  creed 
they  have  only  a  subsidiary  value.  The  point  of  depar- 
ture must  be  proofs  through  reason.  They  alone  ensure 
definite  knowledge.^  In  this  sense  the  late  Egyptian  Mufti 
Mohammed  ^Abduh  could  recently  affirm  as  a  funda- 
mental of  true  Islam  ''that  in  a  conflict  between  reason 
and  tradition  the  right  of  decision  belonged  to  reason, 
a  principle,"  he  says,  ''which  very  few  oppose,  in  fact 
only  those  oppose  who  need  not  in  any  way  be 
considered.''^ 

If  then  the  Ash'arites  with  their  proofs  of  reason 
generally  uphold  orthodox  dogma,  and  true  to  their 
master's  principle,  guard  against  using  their  syllogisms 
to  attain  formulas  which  lead  away  from  true  orthodoxy, 
then  the  prerogative  granted  to  reason  over  tradition  in 
dogmatic  demonstration  was  bound  to  be  an  abomination 
in  the  eyes  of  the  intransigent  old  school.  How  much  the 
more  in  the  eyes  of  the  anthropomorphists,  clinging  to  the 
letter,  and  who  would  not  listen  to  metaphors  and  tropes 
and  other  rhetorical  exegetical  expression  of  the  written 
attributes  of  God! 

To  the  adherents  of  the  old  traditional  school  then, 
there  was  no  difference  between  Mu'tazilites  and  Ash- 
'arites. The  Kalam  in  itself,  its  principle,  c'est  Vennemiy 
whether  it  leads  to  heretical  or  orthodox  results.^  "Flee 
Kalam — no  matter  in  what  garb,  as  you  flee  before  a 
lion,"  becomes  the  motto.  Their  feeling  is  expressed  in 
a  wrathful  speech,  attributed  by  them  to  al-Shafi'i.    "My 


136  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

judgment  of  the  Kalam-people  is,  that  they  should  be 
beaten  with  scourges  and  shoe-soles,  and  then  led  through 
all  tribes  and  settlements  with  the  cry,  'this  is  the  reward 
of  those  who  leave  to  one  side  the  Koran  and  Sunna  and 
give  themselves  to  Kalam/  ''*  Kalam  is  a  science,  which 
does  not  result  in  the  reward  of  God  even  if  one  reaches 
truth  through  it,  and  on  the  other  hand  one  may  easily 
become  a  heretic  if  one  falls  into  error  through  it.^  The 
true  believer  in  Islam  should  not  bow  the  knee  to  'akl, 
reason.  Reason  is  not  necessary  for  grasping  religious 
truth ;  this  is  contained  in  the  Koran  and  Sunna.^  There 
is  no  difference  between  Kalam  and  Aristotelian  phi- 
losophy— both  lead  to  heresy.  They  could  use  no  phrase 
such  as  ''fides  quaerens  intellectum. ' '  Belief  is  exclu- 
sively bound  to  the  letters  which  have  come  down  through 
the  centuries;  and  reason  must  not  intrude  in  this 
sphere. 

One  can,  therefore,  assert  of  the  mediating  theology 
of  the  Ash'arites,  that  it  feU  between  two  stools.  This 
is  the  reward  of  every  mongrel  movement  looking  in 
two  directions.  Philosophers  and  Mu'tazilites  alike  turn 
up  their  noses  at  the  Ash'arites,  as  obscurantists,  unme- 
thodical minds,  superficial  dilettantes,  with  whom  one 
cannot  allow  oneself  to  enter  into  serious  disputation, 
but  even  this  condemnation  did  not  save  them  from  the 
fanatical  curse  of  the  orthodox.  Little  gratitude  was 
shown  them  for  having  fought  Aristotelian  philosophy 
in  the  interests  of  religion. 

XIII.  In  addition  to  the  actual  theology  of  the  Ash- 
'arites,  their  natural  philosophy  also  deserves  special 
consideration.  It  may  be  said  that  it  represents  orthodox 
Islam's  ruling  conception  of  nature.  The  philosophy  of 
Kalam  is  by  no  means  to  be  regarded  as  a  compact 
system,  even  though  it  can  in  general  be  said,  that  its 
philosophical  view  of  the  world  follows  mostly  that  of 
the  pre-Aristotelian  nature  philosophers,^  especially  that 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  137 

of  the  Atomists.  From  the  very  beginning,  even  in  the 
pre-Ash'arite  days,  its  adherents  are  reproached  with 
not  recognizing  the  constancy  of  nature  and  the  regular- 
ity of  phenomena.  The  Mu'tazilite  al-Jahiz  mentions 
the  objection  of  the  Aristotelians  to  the  adherents  of 
his  party,  that  their  method  in  trying  to  prove  unity, 
can  be  accepted  only  with  the  denial  of  all  truths  of 
nature.^  Opponents  unfamiliar  with  the  deeper  con- 
nection and  meaning  of  his  philosophical  theories,  could 
reproach  Nazam,  one  of  the  boldest  followers  of  the 
school,  with  the  charge  that  he  denied  the  law  of  the  im- 
penetrability of  the  body.^  In  fact  there  is  handed  down 
an  opinion  held  by  him,  which  appears  to  be  the  result  of 
his  tendency  to  adopt  the  view  of  nature  held  by  the 
Stoics.^ 

Nevertheless,  although  the  Mu'tazilites  opposed  the 
peripatetic  philosophy,  quite  a  few  of  them  wrapped 
themselves  in  an  Aristotelian  mantle  and  wished  to  make 
themselves  more  tolerable  by  means  of  philosophical 
flourishes,  which  had  little  influence  with  the  philoso- 
phers. The  latter  contemptuously  look  down  upon  the 
methods  of  Kalam  and  do  not  regard  the  Mutakallimun 
as  equal  opponents,  worthy  of  dispute.  They  could  not 
find  any  ground  in  common.  A  serious  strife  over  ideas 
was,  therefore,  impossible  with  them.  ''The  Mutakalli- 
mun assert  that  the  most  important  source  of  knowledge 
is  reason;  but  what  they  call  reason,  is  in  reality  not 
reason,  and  their  method  of  thought  does  not  correspond, 
in  a  philosophical  sense,  to  the  rules.  What  they  call 
reason,  and  with  which  they  try  to  act  according  to 
reason,  is  only  a  tissue  of  phantastic  suppositions.'' 

To  a  still  greater  degree  does  this  apply  to  the  Ash- 
'arites.  What  the  Aristotelians,  and  neo-Platonists 
from  the  tenth  to  the  thirteenth  centuries,  assert  about 
the  phantasies  and  unreasonableness  of  the  natural 
philosophy  of  Kalam,^  is  also  especially  true  of  the  Ash- 


^ 


138  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

'arites,  who,  in  the  interest  of  their  dogmatic  supposi- 
tions, oppose  themselves  to  all  modes  of  viewing  things, 
which  proceed  from  the  regularity  of  law  in  nature. 
With  the  Pyrrhonists  they  deny  the  reliability  of  the 
sensuous  perceptions  and  allow  as  wide  room  as  possible 
to  the  supposition  of  the  illusion  of  the  senses.  They 
deny  the  law  of  causality,  the  **  source  and  loadstar  of 
all  rational  knowledge.''*  Nothing  occurs  in  the  world 
as  an  absolute  necessity  according  to  unchangeable  laws. 
What  precedes  is  not  the  cause  of  that  which  follows. 
They  entertain  such  fear  of  the  idea  of  causality,  that 
they  do  not  even  readily  consider  God  as  the  first  Cause, 
but  rather  as  the  *^ maker''  (fa41)  of  nature  and  its 
manifestations.^  They  consequently  grant  the  possibility 
of  the  unnatural.  It  is  possible  to  see  things  which  do 
not  fall  within  the  field  of  sight.  It  could  sarcastically 
be  said  of  them,  that  they  grant  the  possibility  of  a  blind 
man  in  China  seeing  a  gnat  in  Andalusia."^  For  the  law 
of  nature  they  substitute  the  idea  of  habit. 

It  is  not  law,  but  simply  the  habit  laid  upon  nature 
by  God,  that  makes  certain  things  follow  others;  this 
succession  is  not,  however,  necessary.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary that  abstinence  from  food  and  drink  should  be  fol- 
lowed by  hunger  and  thirst  but  it  is  usually  so.  Hunger 
and  thirst  arise  because  the  accidence  of  hungriness  and 
thirstiness  is  attached  to  the  substance ;  if  the  accidence 
is  left  out  (and  God  can  withhold  it),  then  hunger  and 
thirst  are  also  left  out.  The  Nile  rises  and  falls  from 
habit  not  as  a  result  of  causal  natural  events.  If  the 
accidence  of  the  rise  is  left  out,  then  the  level  of  the 
river  would  not  change.  Each  and  every  thing  then,  is 
'explained  by  the  hypothesis:  *^what  appears  to  us  as 
a  law,  is  only  a  habit  of  nature. ' '  God  has  laid  the  habit 
upon  nature,  that  definite  constellations  of  the  stars 
should  correspond  to  definite  consecutive  occurrences. 

*  Th.  Gomperz. 


DOGMATIC  DEVELOPMENT.  139 

The  astrologers,  accordingly,  may  be  right.  They  only 
express  themselves  wrongly.^  Every  occurrence,  whether 
in  a  positive  or  negative  sense,  is  a  special  creative  act 
of  God.  As  a  rule  he  follows  the  usual  way  in  nature. 
This,  however,  is  not  without  exception;  when  God  sus- 
pends habitual  natural  phenomena,  there  occurs  what 
we  call  a  miracle,  and  they  an  interruption  of  habit. 
The  continuity  of  habit  corresponds  to  new  acts  of 
creation.  We  are  accustomed  to  ascribe  shadows  to  the 
fact  that  the  sun  is  absent  from  a  place.  Not  at  all! 
The  shadow  is  not  the  result  of  the  absence  of  the  sun; 
it  is  created  and  is  something  positive.  In  this  way  the 
adherents  of  Kalam  are  able  to  explain  the  tradition 
that  in  paradise  there  is  a  tree  in  whose  shadow  one  can 
ride  a  hundred  years  without  leaving  its  shade.  How  is 
this  possible  since  before  the  entrance  of  the  pious  into 
paradise  ' '  the  sun  is  folded  up  "  ( Sura  81,  v.  1)  ?  "Where 
there  is  no  sun  there  can  be  no  shade !  But  shade  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  sun;  God  creates  the  shadows; 
here  is  an  example  of  the  interruption  of  the  habitual.^ 

This  view  of  nature  runs  through  the  whole  world  con- 
ception of  the  Ash'arite  dogmatists.  Al  Ashlar!  himself 
had  already  widely  used  it.  To  him,  for  example,  is 
ascribed  the  teaching  that  it  is  only  a  custom  of  nature 
that  scent,  taste,  etc.,  cannot  be  perceived  by  eye-sight; 
God  could  give  our  eye-sight  the  power  of  noticing  smell. 
But  this  is  not  the  habit  of  nature.^^ 

Thus,  the  orthodox  dogmatism  based  on  Ash'arite 
fundamentals,  demands  the  rejection  of  the  views  of 
causality,  in  whatever  form.  Not  only  is  the  working  of 
unchangeable  and  eternal  natural  laws  as  the  cause  of  all 
acts  of  nature  denied,  but  even  the  formulas  of  causality 
which  approach  the  standpoint  of  Kalam  are  condemned, 
as  for  example,  that  ''causality  is  not  eternal,  but  arose 
within  time,  and  that  God  has  given  to  the  causes  the 
power  to  constantly  call  forth  the  consequent  events.  "^^ 


140  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

If  this  view  of  the  world  excludes  the  conception  of 
chance  it  does  so  in  the  sense  that  it  stipulates  a  de  ^isive 
aim  for  that  which  happens.  But  it  does  not  take  this 
exclusion  of  chance  in  the  sense  that,  that  which  happens 
is  the  infallible  consequence  of  a  natural  causality 
expressing  itself  in  law.  Within  this  view  of  nature  there 
was  found  then,  sufficient  place  for  all  the  demands  of 
dogmatism.  How  easily  a  formula  was  given  for  mir- 
acles, has  just  been  shown.  The  same  is  true  for  the 
acceptance  of  all  supernatural  things,  which  are  de- 
manded by  the  dogmas  of  Islam.  Since  there  is  no  law 
and  no  causality,  there  is  also  nothing  miraculous  or 
supernatural.  If  the  accidence  of  life  vouchsafes  decay- 
ing bones,  resurrection  is  to  follow.  It  is  a  special  act, 
just  as  all  natural  phenomena  are  to  be  traced  back  to 
special  acts,  and  not  permanent  laws. 

In  this  way  Kalam,  in  the  form  given  to  it  by  al 
Ashlar!  and  as  accepted  by  Moslem  orthodoxy,  set  up 
a  system  of  thought  in  opposition  to  Aristotelianism 
which  adapted  itself  very  well  to  the  support  of  the 
doctrines  of  faith.  This  has  been  the  ruling  Moslem 
philosophy  of  religion  since  the  twelfth  century. 

But  the  essential  values  of  their  subtleties  were  to  be 
degraded  by  a  counterpoise,  through  the  introduction  of 
a  religious  historical  factor,  which  will  form  the  subject 
of  the  next  chapter. 


s 


NOTES.  141 


NOTES. 


I.  1.  This  claim  is  expressed  in  Islam  in  the  sentence:    *'al-'ulamd 
waratliat    al-anMyd" :     'Hhe    theologians    are    the    heirs    of    the 
prophets. ' ' 
2.  See  the  parts  of  the  Hadith  bearing  on  the  disapproval  of  such 
movements  Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  I  141,  15  ff.  ZDMG  LVII  393  f.     Cf. 
also  B.   Tafsir  no.   237    (Sura  41),  where  a  number  of  contra- 
dictions in  the  Koran  are  given,  which  were  submitted  to  Ibn 
'  Abbas. 
II.  1.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  174,  13.     Before  his  accession  to  the  government, 
^Abdalmalik  led  a  pious,  ascetic  life.     For  the  piety  of  'Abdal- 
malik,  see  Wellhausen:    ^^Das  Arabische  Eeich  und  sein  Sturz'' 
134.      The    Kitdh    al-imama    wal-siyasa,    (Cairo    1904)     wrongly 
ascribed  to  Ibn  Kuteiba;     (cf.   de   Goeje,    ' ' Kivistadegli   Studi 
Orientali    I    415-421),   is    fond    of    dates    for    the   piety    of    the 
Omayyads.      '  Abdalmalik 's    father,    Merwan    I — who,    according 
to  another  source,  worked  zealously  as  caliph  for  the  founding 
of  religious  law   (Ibn  Sa'd  XI  117,  8) — was  discovered  by  the 
people,   who    came   to    offer   him   the   caliphate,   before   a   little 
lamp  busy  with  recitations  of  the  Koran   (II  22  end).     'Abdal- 
malik  himself,  calls  the  people  to  a    ''revival  of  the  Koran  and 
Sunna.     .    .    .     There  could  be  no  disagreement  as  to  his  piety'' 
(ibid.  25,  9).     Acts  of   devotion  to  God  are  mentioned  even  of 
Hajaj,  scorned  by  the  pious    (72,  3;     74,  10;    cf.  Tab.  II  1186 
arrangements  of  days  for  fasting  and  prayer  in  the  Mosques; 
note  especially   Jahiz,  Hayaivan  V   63,   5   from   below,   where   it 
is   said   of  him  that  he  manifested   religious  reverence   for   the 
Koran   in   contrast   to    the    devotion    of    the    Omayyad    circle   to 
poetry    and    genealogy).      Further    proof    is    furnished    by    the 
encomiums  as  religious  heroes  bestowed  by  the  poets  on  caliphs 
and   statesmen   by  way   of  flattery;     e.   g.   Jerir,   DTwcln    (Cairo 
1313)  I  168,  8;    II  97,  5  fr.  bel.  (Merwan,  the  ancestor  of  'Omar 
II,   is    caUed    du-l-nur    [possessor    of   light]    and   introduced   as 
adding  to  the   fame  of  the  pious  caliph).     Naka'id  ed.   Bevan 
104  V.   19   the  same  poet  calls  the   caliph  imam   al-liuda,    "the 
Imam    of    the    (religious)    correct    guidance";     see    also    'Ajaj, 
append.  22,  15.  cf.  Muh.  Stud.  II  381. 

2.  Becker,   "Papyri  Schott-Eeinhardt ' '    I  (Heidelberg  1906)   35. 

3.  Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  I  137  5.  20.— Husein  and  his  partisans  are  opposed 
as  "people  who  are  disloyal  to  din  and  oppose  the  Imam  (Yazid, 
the  son  of  Mu'awiyya)."     (Tabari  II  342,  16.) 

4.  Thus  characterized  by  Wellhausen,  ' '  Die  religios-politischen  Oppo- 


142  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

sitionsparteien  im  alten  Islam"   (Berlin  1901,  Abhand  lungen  d. 
Kgl.  Ges.  d  Wiss.  Gottingen,  PhH.  Hist.  01.  V  no.  2)7. 

5.  Tabari  I  2909,  16. 

6.  The  defeat  of  such  rebels  is  praised  by  Jarir  {Blwdn  I  62,  13) 
as  the  conquest  of  the  muMadi' fi-l-din  (innovators  in  religion). 

7.  Van    Vloten,      ''Recherches     sur    la     domination     arabe    etc.*' 
(Amsterdam  1894)  36. 

8.  Lammens,   "fitudes  sur  le  regne  de  Mo'awiyya"   154  ff.     (Melan- 
ges Beyrouth  II  46  ff.) 

9.  This  foUows  from  Ibn  Sa'd  V  68,  23  ff. 

10.  This  is  frequently  mentioned  in  colored  accounts  as  one  of  their 
faults.  (Yasta'tJiiruna  Mlfey'),  Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  I  166,  11; 
Abu  Dawud,  Sunan  II  183. 

11.  Tabari  II  300,  9  ff. 

12.  For  their  hi' da's  Kumeit  is  very  important,  Hdshimiyydt  ed. 
Horovitz  123,  7  ff . 

13.  e.  g.  Sa'id  ibn  al-Musayyab,  who  in  every  prayer  cursed  the 
Banu  Merwdn  (Ibn  Sa'd  V  95,  5). 

14.  This,  however,  does  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  a  Murji'ite 
opposing  the  cruelties  of  the  Hajaj  (Ibn  Sa'd  VI  205,  12); 
without,  however,  involving  a  judgment  with  regard  to  the 
Omayyad  caliphate. 

15.  For  example:  Ibn  Sirin  is  spoken  of  arja'  al-nds  U-hddihi-l- 
ummati,  i.  e.  he  was  the  most  indulgent  in  his  judgment  of  his 
fellow-men,  but  severe  with  himself  (Nawawi,  Tahdil)  108,  7  fr. 
bel.). 

16.  According  to  the  report  of  several  Murji'ites  the  pious  caliph 
'Omar  II,  with  whom  they  discussed  these  questions,  attached 
himself  to  their  point  of  view.     Ibn  Sa'd  VI  218,  20. 

17.  Ibn  Sa'd,  ibid.  214,  19,  al-murji'at  al-uld.  The  views  of  Bureida 
ibn  al-Husaib  furnish  an  example  of  this  tendency,  ibid.  IV,  I 
179,  11  ff. 

18.  Murji'ites  contra  the  adherents  of  'All,  see  ''Muh.  Stud." 
II  91  note  5.  cf.  Saba'i,  the  fanatical  Shi'ite  (adherent  of 
'Abdallah  ibn  Saba)  in  contrast  to  Murji'.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  192, 
17.  This  contrast  lasts  up  till  the  time  when  the  Murji'  con- 
fession assumed  only  a  theoretical  importance.  Jahiz  (''Bayan" 
ed.  Oairo,  1311-13,  II  149  below)  cites  the  following  Shi'ite 
epigram : 

''If  it  amuses  you  to  see  a  Murji 'ite  dying  of  his  illness  before 
his  (real)   death. 

Keep  on  praising  'Ali  before  him,  and  pronounce  pious  blessings 
for  the  prophet  and  those  of  his  family   (ahli  beytihi)." 

19.  The  judgment  of  the  Omayyad  ruler  is  made  very  clear  by  these 
pious  fanatics,  Aghani  XX  106;  the  Kharijites  kill  in  a  most 
horrible  manner   a  man,   who   disseminates   a   Hadith,  in   which 


NOTES.  143 

the   prophet    warns    against   rebellion    and   recommends   passive 
sufferance,  Ibn  Sa'd  V  182,  15  ff. 

20.  This  does  not  contradict  the  dates  given  by  van  Vloten  on  the 
Irja',  ZDMG  XLV   161  ff. 

21.  Ibn  Khallikan  ed.  Wiistenfeld,  no.  114  Bishr  al-Merici. 

22.  For  differences  of  opinion  on  this  question  within  the  limits  of 
orthodoxy  (Ash'arites  and  Hanifites)  see  Fr.  Kern,  ^'Mitteil- 
ungen  des  Semin.  fiir  Orient.  Spr."  Jahrg.  XI  (1908)  section 
II  267.  It  is  very  characteristic  of  the  Hadith,  to  ascribe  already 
to  a  ''companion"  the  theory  of  the  ''increase  and  decrease 
of  faith,"    Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  II  92,  15  ff. 

23.  It  finally  happened  that  the  designation  of  Murji'a  came  to 
correspond  to  deistic  views  held  in  common  by  Moslems  which 
set  aside  completely  ritualistic  observances,  while  clinging  firmly 
to  the  princii^les  of  monotheistic  faith.  The  characteristic  sign 
of  the  Murji'ites  is  the  depreciation  of  the  '  amal.  Mukaddasi 
(wrote  375/985)  designates  Murji,  'Moslems  in  name'  whom  he 
had  observed  in  the  province  of  the  Demawend,  and  of  whom  he 
reports,  that  there  are  no  mosques  within  their  territory,  and 
that  the  population  neglect  the  practical  practices  of  Islam. 
They  content  themselves  with  the  fact  that  they  are  muwahhidun, 
'  monotheists '  and  that  they  pay  their  taxes  to  the  Islamic  state 
("Biblioth.  geograph.  arab. "    ed.  de  Goeje  III  398  below). 

III.  1.  Musnad  Ahmed    (Jabir)    quotes  Ibn  Kayyim  al-Jauziyya  Kitab 
al-saldt  wa-alikdm  tdrikihd   (Cairo,  Na'asani  1313)   46. 

2.  Tirmidi  II  261  below;  a  favorite  prayer  formula  begins:  "O 
God,  do  not  abandon  us  to  ourselves,  so  that  we  become  impo- 
tent." Beha  al-din  al-'Amili,  Mikhlat  (Cairo  1317)  129,  2, 
where  a  large  number  of  old  prayer  formulas  are  collected. 

3.  Such  formulas  of  oaths  (bara'a)  in  Mas'udi,  Muruj  VI  297; 
Ya'kubi  ed.  Houtsma  II  505,  509;  Ibn  al-Tiktika  ed.  Ahlwardt 
232. 

4.  I  see  subsequent  to  the  completion  of  this  chapter  that  my  view 
coincides  with  that  of  Carra  de  Vaux,  "La  Doctrine  de  1 'Islam" 
(Paris  1909)  60. 

IV.  1.  Hubert  Grimme,  Mohammed  vol.  II  (Miinster  1895)  105  ff. 

2.  Alfred  v.  Kremer,  "  Culturgeschichtl.  Streifziige  auf  dem 
Gebiete  des  Islams"     (Leipzig  1873)    7  ff . 

3.  Cf.  on  this  ZDMG  LVII  398. 

4.  WeUhausen,  "Das  Arab.  Eeich  und  sein  Sturz"  217,  235.  WeU- 
hausen  emphasizes  in  the  later  passage,  that  such  a  partisan- 
ship did  not  arise  from  dogmatic  but  political  considerations. 
The  advocates  of  free-will  refer  to  letters,  which  Hasan  al 
Basri  is  said  to  have  sent  to  the  caliphs  'Abdalmalik  and  Ha- 
jaj,  in  which  the  pious  man  wishes  to  convince  those  in  power 
of  the  absurdity  of  their  clinging  to  a  belief  in  a  servum  arbi- 


144  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

trium.    Cf.  Aimed  ibn  Yahya,  Kitdh  al-milal  wal-niJial  (ed.  T.  W. 
Arnold,  Al-mu' tazUah   (Leipzig  1903)    12  ff.)- 

5.  ZDMG  ibid.  394.  Note  the  fatalistic  verse  of  Farazdak,  ibid. 
LX  25. 

6.  Aghani  X  99,  10. 

7.  Ibn  Kuteiba,  Ma'drif  225. 

8.  al-Imdma  ival-siydsa  II  41. 

V.  1.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  236,  19.  Some  name  Mob.  ibn  al-Hanafiyya  as  the 
one  who  first  defended  the  thesis  of  the  Murji';  ibid.  V  67,  16. 
For  the  definition  given  here  see   ' '  Kultur  D.  Gegenw. "    I,  V  64. 

2.  For  this  meaning  of  the  appellation  Mu'tasila  see  ZDMG  XLI, 
35  note  4.  ef.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  225,  4,  where  MuHazilite  is  used  as 
a  synonym  of  '  dhid  and  zdliid  to  denote  ascetics.  In  an  old 
Arabic  translation  of  the  N.  T.,  (publ.  1233)  originating  in 
Nestorian  cii-cles,  Pharisee  (one  who  sets  himself  apart)  is  trans- 
lated by  the  same  word  (Mashrik  XI  905  penult). 

3.  A  recent  monograph  has  been  written  by  Henri  GaUand,  ''Essai 
sur  les  Mo' tazelites,  les  rationalistes  de  Tlslam"  (Geneva  1906). 

4.  Cf.  the  biography  by  T.  W.  Arnold,  Al-Mu'tazilah  18,  12. 

5.  In  Beihaki  ed.  Schwally  364,  penult,  ff.j  the  ascetic  picture  in 
Arnold,  1.  c.  22,  5  fe. 

6.  In  the  4th  century  already  sheikh  min  zuhhdd  al-mu' iazila :  **a 
sheikh  of  the  Mu'tazilite  ascetics,"  Yalcut  ed.  Margoliouth  II 
309,  11. 

7.  Kremer,  ' '  Culturgeschichte  des  Orients  unter  den  Chalifen"  II 
267. 

8.  In  Jahiz,  Eayawdn  III  18  (cf.  VI  11  on  sceptics).  Such  prin- 
ciples make  their  impression  even  on  a  man  as  far  from  the 
Mu'tazilite  point  of  view  as  Ghazali;  it  is  apparent  in  his 
expression  (Mozne  sedek,  Hebrew  ed.  Goldenthal,  235):  '^he 
who  does  not  doubt,  cannot  think  rationally."  The  Arabic 
original  of  Ghazali's  saying  is  quoted  by  Ibn  Tufeil,  Hayy 
ibn  Yakzan  (ed.  Gauthier,  Algiers  1900)  13,  4  fr.  below. 

9.  Maturidi,  Commentary  to  al-Fikh  al-akbar  (Haidarabad  1321; 
authenticity  very  improbable)    19. 

10.  Jahiz  1.  c.  VI  95  (in  place  of  the  gap  here  designated  by  dots, 
the  Arabic  text  as  well  as  in  the  Vienna  Jahiz-manuscript  has  a 
word,  evidently  corrupt,  according  to  the  metre,  which  cannot  be 
made  out).  To  this  independent  activity  of  reason  (96,  6)  is 
opposed  the  dependent  traditional  repetition  (talclid),  which 
marks  the  average  man. 

11.  Cf.  Maimuni,  ''Guide  des  egares"  I  c.  73,  propos.  XII.  On  the 
scepticism  of  the  Mutakallimun  see  ZDMG  LXII  2. 

12.  *'Buch  vom  Wesen  der  Seele"    13,  note  to  4,  5  ff . 

13.  Fakhr  al-din  al-Eazi,  Mafdtih  al-ghaib  see  St.  V  432. 


NOTES.  145 

VI.  1.  Ibn  'Asakir,  Ta'riTch  Dimashlf,  section  340.  (Lanberg  Coll.,  now 
in  the  library  of  Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Conn.) 

2.  The  Hanbalite  theologian  Muwaffak  al-din  'Abdallah  ibn  Kudama 
(d.  620/1233)  wrote:  Damm  al-ta'wU  (the  condemnation  of  the 
ta'wil),  of  which  two  manuscript  copies  have  lately  been 
acquired  for  the  library  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal  ("List 
of  Arabic  and  Persian  Mss.  acquired"  .  .  .  1903-1907  no. 
405.  795;  add  to  Brockelmann  I  398).  In  various  writings 
Ibn  Teymiyya  (see  concerning  him  ch.  VI)  frequently  attacks  the 
ta'wll  of  the  Mutakallimun  and  indicates  the  proper  boundary 
of  ta'wil  in  the  traditional  sense  (e.  g.  Tafs^r  Surat  al- 
ilchlas  71  ff.,  Bisalat  al-iTclil  fi-l-mutasMMJi  wal-ta'iml,  in 
Majmu' at  al-rasd'il  (Cairo  1323)  II). 

3.  Abu  Ma' mar  al-Hudali  (d.  236/850  in  Baghdad),  TadTcirat  al- 
huffds  II  56. 

VIII.  1.  ^' Ahmed    ibn    Hanbal    and    the   Mihna"     (Leiden    1897).      Cf. 
ZDMG  LII  155  ff. 

2.  Muh.  Stud.  II  59. 

3.  Shahrastani  ed.  Cureton  68. 

4.  ZDMG  LXII  7. 

5.  Kitdb  al-ibdna  'an  usul  al-dijdna  (Haidarabad  1321)   41. 

IX.  1.  For  references  and  further  discussion  see  ZDMG  LII  158  and 
the  introduction  to  ''Le  livre  de  Mohammed  ibn  Toumert" 
(Algiers  1903)    61-63;    71-74. 

2.  Shahrastani,  1.  c.  51  ult. 

3.  Mawerdi,  ' '  Constitutiones  politicae"  ed.  Enger  61  ff.  The 
Imam  al-Shafi'i  makes  no  difference  between  the  two  zones, 
ddr  al-Isldm  and  ddr  al-harl.  On  this  account  differences  arise 
with  other  schools  in  regard  to  derivative  questions  cf.  Abu 
Zeid  al-Dabbusi,  Ta'sts  al-nasar  (Cairo  o.  J.)  58. 

4.  T.  W.  Arnold,  Al-Mu' tazilah  44,  12,  57,  5. 
X.  1.  For  the  title  see  above  VIII  note  5. 

2.  M.  Schreiner  "Zur  Geschichte  des  Ash' aritentums. "  (Actes  du 
Huitieme  Congres  international  des  Orientalistes,  Section  I  A, 
105.) 
XI.  1.  In  the  ra]jbinical  Hagada  we  find  likewise  the  view  expressed  that 
questions  of  law  are  discussed  after  the  manner  of  the  school; 
bab.  Pesdchim  50a  beginning  Khagigd  15b  below,  Gittm  6b 
below;  God  himself  is  supposed  to  occupy  himself  with  the  con- 
sideration of  the  varying  opinions  of  rabbinical  authorities,  he 
himself  searches  in  the  law;  a  point  of  view  often  expressed  in 
Seder  Eliyyahu  rabba    (ed.  Friedmann,  Vienna  1900)    61  penult. 

2.  Musnad  Ahmed  IV  66. 

3.  Muwatta  (ed.  Cairo)  I  385.  Other  examples,  which  have  formed 
the  object  of  the  ta'wU  will  be  found  in  the  author's  work:  "Die 
Zahiriten"    168.     A  collection  of  Hadiths,  as  a  support  of  the 


146  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

most  crude  anthropomorphism,  was  made,  see  Yakut  ed.  Mar- 
goliouth  III  I  153.  Also  Bukh.  Tauhid  no.  35  (ed.  JuynboU 
448),  in  Damascus  by  Hasan  ibn  'Ali  al-Ahwazi   (d.  446/1055). 

4.  In  one  version  of  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  37,  23  yahhitu  closing:  ''and 
when  morning  comes  he  again  returns  on  high." 

5.  Other  explanations  also  have  been  attempted  to  explain  away  the 
anthropomorphism  of  this  utterance;  they  are  put  together  in 
Abu  Muh.  ibn  al-Sid  al-Batal-yusi,  al-Intisaf  (ed.  'Omar  al- 
Mahmasani,  Cairo  1319)  120  f.  (this  book  is  of  great  importance 
for  the  knowledge  of  the  questions  treated  here),  Moh.  al-'Ab- 
dari's  Kiial  al-majal  (Alexandria  1293)  II  25  ff.  cf.  also  Subki, 
Tabakdt  al-Shafi'  iyya  II  135,  13. 

6.  Bukh,  Tafsir  no.  264  (Sura  50  v.  29)  with  Ibn  al-Athir,  Nihdya 
1  142;  LA  s.  v.  jbr  V  182  cf.  Bukh.  Tauhid.  no.  7  (ed.  Juyn- 
boU 448). 

XII.  1.  See  on  this  the  definite  formulation  in  Fakhr  al-din  al  Kazi, 
Ma'dlim  usiil  al-din  ch.  II  par.  10  (ed.  Cairo  1323,  and  the 
same  author's  work  Muhassal  p.  9).  After  enumerating  the  sub- 
jective elements  of  the  traditional  demonstration  he  says:  ''from 
this  it  follows,  that  the  traditional  proofs  only  give  conjectures, 
the  proofs  of  reason,  on  the  contrary  have  apodictical  power;  con- 
jecture cannot  be  opposed  to  apodictical  knowledge."  The  funda- 
mental principle  of  Kalam  is  invariably  al-dald'il  al-ndkliyya 
Id  tufld  al  yakln,  al-Iji  Jordjani,  MawdMf  (Stambul  1239)   79. 

2.  al-Isldm  wal-nasrdniyya  ma'al-'ilm  wal-madaniyya  (Cairo  1323, 
printed  after  the  death  of  the  author)  p.  56. 

3.  Cf.  Schreiner,  "Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  der  theologischen 
Bewegungen  im  Islam."  (Leipzig  1899)  64-75  =  ZDMG  LII  528- 
539. 

4.  Ibn  Teymiyya,  in  the  great  'Akida  hamawiyya,  Majmu' at  al- 
ra^d'il  al-kubrd  I  468  below. 

5.  Subki,  TahaTcdt  al-SMfi'  iyya  I  241,  5. 

6.  A  famous  authority  in  tradition,  Abu  Suleyman  al-Khattabi  al- 
Busti  (d.  388/998),  wrote  a  book:  al-ghunya  (not  al-ghayla, 
as  in  "  Abu-1-Mahasin  ibn  Taghri  Birdi"  annals  ed.  W.  Popper, 
Berkeley  1909,  578,  15)  'an  al-lcaldm  wa-ahlihi,  "the  superfluity 
of  Kalam  and  its  people."    Subki,  ibid.  II  218,  15. 

XIII.  1.  On  the  sources  of  the  metaphysics  and  natural  philosophy  of 
the  Mu'tazilites  we  now  have  the  investigation  of  S.  Horovitz: 
"  Tiber  den  Einfluss  der  Griechischen  Philosophic  auf  die  Entwick- 
lung  des  Kalam"  (Breslau  1909)  and  cf.  the  review  by  M.  Hor- 
ten  in  Oriental  Literatur-Zeitung  XII  391  ff.  On  the  philos. 
of  Kalam  see  Horten:  "Die  philosophischen  Probleme  der 
spekulativen  Theologie  im  Islam"  (Bonn  1910;  "Eenaissance  und 
PhHosophie"  III). 
2.  Kitdb  al-hayawdn  II  48. 


NOTES.  147 

3.  Mawakif,  1.  c.  448. 

4.  Cf.  S.  Horovitz,  1.  c.  12  and  Horten,  ZDMG  LXIII  784  ff. 

5.  See  above  note  5,  11  and  12. 

6.  Maimuni,  Daldlat  al-Jid'inn  I  c.  69  beg. 

7.  Jorjani  to  Mawakif  512,  3  fr.  bel. 

8.  Ibn  Hajar  al-Heitami,  Fatdwl  hadithiyya  (Cairo  1307)   35. 

9.  Itlidf  al-sddat  al-muttdkin  (ed.  Cairo  1302)  X  53. 

10.  Mawakif  506. 

11.  The  unacceptable  formulas  of  the  conception  of  causality  are  col- 
lected in  Senusi  (toward  the  end  of  the  15th  century),  '*Les 
Prolegomenes  theologiques, "  published  and  translated  by  J.  D. 
Luciani  (Algiers  1908)  108-112.  Senusi,  whose  compendia  count 
as  fundamentals  of  dogmatic  orthodoxy,  as  is  apparent  in  the 
list  of  his  works  (Belkacem  al-Hafnaoui,  "Biographies  des 
savants  musulmans  de  I'Algerie'^  I  185  penult.)  has  devoted 
another  special  work  to  the  refutation  of  causality,  "in  which 
he  opposes  with  strong  arguments  the  doctrine  of  invariable 
causes. ' ' 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM. 

I.  Early  Islam  was  ruled  by  the  consciousness  of 
absolute  dependence,  and  the  conception  of  world 
negation. 

As  has  been  seen,  it  was  the  vision  of  the  destruction 
of  the  world  and  of  the  judgment  of  mankind  which  first 
made  Mohammed  a  prophet.  This  view  bred  a  spirit 
of  asceticism  among  his  followers,  and  contempt  of  the 
world  became  their  motto. 

Nevertheless,  although  Mohammed,  to  the  very  end, 
proclaimed  the  blessedness  of  paradise  as  the  goal  of 
all  faithful  life,  owing  to  the  changing  conditions  in 
Medina  and  to  the  spread  of  his  warlike  activities,  the 
world  point  of  view  soon  unconsciously  came  to  play  an 
important  part  in  his  considerations. 

The  vast  majority  of  Arabs  who  came  over  to  him  were 
chiefly  won  and  held  by  the  prospect  of  material  advan- 
tages. Not  all  belonged  to  those  of  whom  the  early  histo- 
rians of  Islam  speak,  hurra  (praying  brothers)  and 
hakTia'un  (weeper,  penitents).  The  prospect  of  spoils 
was  indeed  a  most  magnetic  recruiting  force  for  Islam. 
The  prophet  himself  recognized  this  when  he  tried  to 
heighten  the  zeal  of  the  warrior  through  the  maglidnim 
hatlivra  (much  booty)  promised  by  Allah  (Sura  48,  v.  19). 
In  the  old  accounts  of  the  maglidzl  (expeditions)  of  the 
prophet,  it  is  surprising  to  note  the  vast  and  varied 
spoils  which  with  the  regularity  of  a  natural  law  appear 
to  follow  in  the  wake  of  every  holy  war. 

To  be  sure,  the  prophet  does  not  deny  the  higher  ends 
to  be  attained  by  means  of  these  marauding  expeditions. 
He  preaches  against  the  finality  of  merely  worldly  aims, 
of  dunyd:     **  There  are  many  maghdnim  with  Allah 


99 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  149 

(Sura  4,  V.  96).  **Ye  strive  after  the  trumpery  of  this 
world;  but  AUah  wishes  what  is  beyond'^  (Sura  8,  v.  68). 
The  ascetic  tone  of  the  first  Mecca  utterances  passed 
over,  to  a  certain  extent,  into  the  Medina  realism.  But 
actual  conditions  had  led  the  spirit  of  the  young  Moslem 
community  into  quite  other  paths  than  those  in  which 
the  prophet  moved  at  the  beginning  of  his  activity,  when 
he  first  called  his  faithful  to  follow  him. 

Even  before  his  death  and  notably  immediately  after, 
the  watchword  had  changed.  In  place  of  the  denial  of 
the  world  came  the  idea  of  the  conquest  of  the  world. 
Confession  of  Islam  was  to  result  for  the  faithful  in 
^Hhe  attainment  of  material  prosperity,  in  supremacy 
i  over  the  Arabs  and  subjection  of  the  non- Arabs,  and 
i  besides  all  this  a  kingly  estate  in  paradise.''^  And  this 
;  conquest  of  the  world  was  not  as  a  matter  of  fact,  aimed 
only  toward  the  ideal.  The  treasures  of  Ktesiphon, 
Damascus,  and  Alexandria  were  no  inducement  to  the 
strengthening  of  ascetic  inclinations.  Far  more  surpris- 
ing is  it  to  find  accounts  as  early  as  the  third  century  of 
Islam,  telling  of  the  great  wealth  collected  by  the  pious 
warriors  and  worshippers,  of  the  great  pieces  of  land 
which  they  called  their  own,  the  comfortable  houses, 
which  they  built,  both  at  home  and  in  the  conquered 
countries,  and  the  luxury  with  which  they  surrounded 
themselves. 

These  facts  are  manifest  in  the  accounts  of  the  pos- 
sessions of  those  people,  whom  Moslem  piety  most  loves 
;to  honor.  Take  for  example  the  property  left  by  the 
iKureishite  al-Zubeir  ibn  al-*Awwam,  a  man  so  pious  that 
he  was  counted  among  the  ten  people  whom  the  prophet, 
Iduring  his  life-time,  could  assure  of  an  entrance  into 
paradise  because  of  their  merit  in  Islam.  The  prophet 
icalled  them  his  apostles  (hawari).  This  Zubeir  left  an 
estate,  which  after  the  deduction  of  all  debts,  yielded 
et    proceeds    amounting    in    the    various    reports    to 


150  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

between  35,200,000  and  52,000,000  dirhems.  It  is  true  he 
is  accredited  with  great  generosity;  but  he  was  never- 
theless a  Croesus,  and  the  inventory  which  could  be 
drawn  up  of  the  estates  which  he  called  his  own  in  the 
various  parts  of  the  recently  conquered  lands  does  not 
look  like  contempt  of  the  world,  eleven  houses  in  Medina 
besides  those  in  Basra,  Kufa,  Fostat,  Alexandria.^ 
Another  one  of  the  ten  pious  men  whom  the  prophet 
assured  of  paradise,  Talha  ibn  ^Ubeidallah  possessed 
lands  worth  roundly  thirty  million  dirhems.  When  he 
died  his  treasurer  disposed  of  2,200,000  dirhems  in  cash, 
above  and  beyond  this.  His  property  in  cash  is  valued 
according  to  another  account  in  the  following  way:  he 
left  one  hundred  leather  bags,  of  which  each  held  three 
kintars  of  gold.^*^  A  heavy  load  that  for  paradise !  About 
the  same  time  (37/657)  there  died  in  Kufa  a  pious  man, 
named  Khabbab,  originally  a  very  poor  devil,  who  in 
his  youth  was  a  craftsman  in  Mecca,  according  to  Arab 
views  at  that  time  not  even  an  honorable  business  for 
free  gentlemen.^  He  became  a  Moslem  and  had  to  suffer 
much  from  his  heathen  fellow-townsmen.  He  was  tor- 
tured with  red-hot  irons  and  threatened  with  still  other 
torments,  but  he  remained  steadfast.  He  also  took  a 
zealous  part  in  the  wars  of  the  prophet.  When  this  man, 
so  zealous  in  his  faith,  lay  on  his  death-bed  in  Kufa,  he 
could  point  to  a  trunk  in  which  he  had  collected  forty 
thousand — probably  dirhems — and  expressed  the  fear 
that  through  this  wealth  he  had  anticipated  the  reward 
for  his  endurance  in  f aith.^ 

The  rich  share  which  came  to  the  warriors  of  plunder 
and  money  offered  favorable  opportunities  for  amassing 
such  worldly  goods.  After  a  campaign  into  North  Africa 
under  the  leadership  of  ^Abdallah  ibn  Abi  Sarh  during 
the  time  of  the  Caliph  ^  Othman,  each  rider  received  three 
thousand  mithkals  in  gold  from  the  booty.  Those  who, 
like  Hakim  ibn  Hizam,  declined  to  accept  the  stipend 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  151 

offered  them  by  Abu  Bekr  and  *Omar,  must  have  been 


very  rare.^ 


The  predominant  note  in  the  Arab  rush  of  conquests, 
was,  as  Leone  Caetani  shows  with  great  clearness  in 
several  places  in  his  work  on  Islam,  material  need  and 
greedJ  This  is  to  be  explained  by  the  economic  condi- 
tion of  Arabia,  which  kindled  the  enthusiasm  for  migra- 
tion from  the  inherited  land  to  more  favorable  points. 
For  this  migration,  founded  on  economic  necessity,  the 
new  faith  furnished  a  welcome  motive.^  By  this  we  do 
not  mean  to  assert  that  it  was  these  avaricious  aims  alone 
that  prevailed  in  Islam's  holy  wars.  Besides  those 
warriors  who  ^^had  entered  the  war  through  worldly 
desires,''  there  were  always  men  who,  inspired  by  reli- 
gious zeal,  took  part  in  the  battles  for  the  sake  of  para- 
dise.^ But,  to  be  sure,  it  was  not  this  last  faction  which 
really  stamped  the  character  of  the  fighting  masses. 

So,  in  a  very  early  epoch  of  its  history,  did  Islam's 
immediate  outward  success  force  the  ascetic  ideas,  once 
so  dominant,  into  the  background.  Frequently  worldly 
considerations  and  worldly  wishes,  could  be  satisfied  by 
a  zealous  share  in  the  spread  of  the  religion  of  Moham- 
med. Even  in  the  generation  after  Mohammed  it  could 
be  said  that  at  this  time  every  pious  deed  had  double 
value,  *' because  it  is  no  longer  the  next  life  which  is 
our  care,  as  formerly,  but  the  dunya,  the  interest  of  this 
life,  which  attracts  us."^^ 

11.  There  was  no  break  in  the  steady  decline  of  ascetic 
tendencies,  when  with  the  rise  of  the  Omayyads  the 
theocratic  spirit»got  the  worst  of  it  even  in  the  govern- 
ment, and  public  spirit  was  no  longer  guided  by  the 
saints.  According  to  a  saying  of  the  prophet  which 
reflects  the  view  of  the  pious,  ^Hhere  will  be  no  more 
emperors  in  Syria  and  no  Khosroes  in  ^Irak.  By  God, 
ye  will  spend  your  treasures  in  the  path  of  God."  In 
gadiths  bearing  on  the   subject,  the   spending  of  the 


v' 


152  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

treasures  gained  as  booty  ^4ii  the  way  of  God'^  and 
for  the  good  of  the  poor  and  needy  goes  far  to  offset 
the  materialistic  aim  and  success  of  conquests.^  But 
this  did  not  exactly  suit  the  people  who  had  to  decide 
about  the  spending  of  the  acquired  goods.  The  treasures 
which  were  amassed  through  conquests  and  continually 
increased  through  clever  administration,  were  not,  in  the 
Hadith,  simply  to  be  spent  *4n  the  way  of  God,^^  i.  e., 
for  pious  ends.  The  classes,  into  whose  hands  such 
worldly  goods  fell  wished  to  use  them  for  the  enjoyments 
of  this  world.  They  did  not  wish  simply  to  *' gather 
up  treasures  in  heaven. '  ^  An  ancient  tradition  tells  that 
Mu*  awiyya,  the  Syrian  governor  at  the  time  of  the  caliph 
*Othman,  the  subsequent  founder  of  the  Omayyad  dy- 
nasty of  caliphs,  fell  into  a  quarrel  with  the  pious  Abu 
Darr  al-Ghifari,  over  the  interpretation  of  the  Koran 
verse  (Sura  9,  v.  34),  ^^And  those  who  hoard  up  gold 
and  silver  and  do  not  give  it  out  in  the  way  of  Allah,  to 
them  carry  the  message  of  painful  punishment.  ^  ^  The 
worldly-minded  statesman  held  that  this  was  a  warning 
which  could  not  be  applied  to  the  actual  condition  of 
the  Moslem  state,  but  which  was  directed  against  the 
covetous  leaders  of  other  religions  (the  preceding  words 
apply  to  them) ;  the  pious  ones,  on  the  other  hand,  con- 
tended, *^the  warning  is  directed  against  them  and 
against  us.'^  This  did  not  suit  Mu^  awiyya,  and  he 
considered  Abu  Darr's  exegesis  dangerous  enough  to 
rouse  the  caliph  against  him.  The  latter  summoned  the 
man  to  Medina,  and  exiled  him  to  a  small  place  in  the 
neighborhood,  so  that  he  should  not,  by  his  hostile  teach- 
ings, influence  public  opinion  against  the  ruling  spirit.^ 

This  is  a  reflection  of  the  ruling  opinion,  to  which  even 
the  interpreters  of  the  religious  teachings  had  to  yield. 
Those  who  interpreted  the  original  ideal  of  Islam  and, 
like  Abu  Darr,  in  the  name  of  the  prophet  propounded 
the  teaching  **Gold  and  silver  amassed  by  him  who  does 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  153 

not  use  it  for  pious  purposes,  it  shall  be  to  him  as  coals 
of  fire,'^ — such  a  person  was  regarded  as  a  recluse,  since 
he  declined  to  recognize  anyone  as  his  brother  who,  in 
spite  of  his  fidelity  to  Islam,  erected  large  buildings  and 
claimed  fields  or  herds  as  his  own.^  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
we  find  in  the  specimens  of  religious  thought,  signs  of 
the  unconcealed  disapproval  of  the  asceticism  which 
went  beyond  the  norm  of  legal  requirement,  although  in 
the  first  decade  of  the  prophet's  career  it  had  received 
his  unconditional  approbation.  We  encounter  an  entirely 
changed  spirit,  with  the  Hadlth  form  supplying  the  neces- 
sary documents  for  its  confirmation. 

The  ambition  to  acquire  transcendental  possessions 
could  naturally  not  be  blotted  out  of  the  Islamic  view  of 
the  world ;  but  it  was  to  share  its  power  with  the  appre- 
ciation of  worldly  interests.  In  support  of  this  Aristo- 
telian mean  a  teaching  of  the  prophet  was  produced: 
'^The  best  among  you  is  not  that  one  who  deserts  this 
world  in  favor  of  the  next,  nor  he  who  does  the  opposite ; 
the  best  among  you  is  he  who  takes  of  both.''^ 

Examples  of  excessive  asceticism  are  constantly  given 
in  such  a  manner  in  the  traditional  sources  as  to  imply 
that  the  prophet  disapproved  of  such  tales. 

The  most  important  documents  on  this  subject  are  the 
reports  of  the  ascetic  tendencies  of  ^Abdallah,  the  son  of 
the  general  ^Amr  ibn  al-^Asi,  famous  in  the  early  history 
of  Islam.  The  story  pictures  him  in  contrast  to  his 
father,  as  one  of  the  leading  religious  disciples  of  the 
prophet  and  the  most  zealous  searcher  of  his  law.^  The 
prophet  hears  of  his  inclination  to  impose  continuous 
fasts  on  himself,  and  to  deprive  himself  of  sleep  in  order 
to  recite  the  Koran  during  the  whole  night;  and  he 
exhorts  him  earnestly  to  limit  these  ascetic  habits  to  a 
reasonable  degree.  ^^Your  body  has  claims  upon  you, 
and  your  wife  has  claims  upon  you,  and  your  guest  has 
claims  upon  you."^    **He  who  practices  continuous  fasts 


154  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

has  (in  truth)  not  fulfilled  the  fast,'*  that  is,  it  will  not 
be  counted  to  him  as  a  religiously  meritorious  act.'^ 

The  prophet  is  made  to  blame  people  who  give  them- 
selves up  to  unbroken  devotional  exercises  to  the  neglect 
of  their  worldly  business.  Once  a  traveler  was  praised 
because  when  riding  his  pack  animal  he  did  nothing  but 
repeat  litanies,  and  when  he  dismounted  he  did  nothing 
but  pray.  ^^But,"  asked  the  prophet,  ^^who  cared  for 
the  feed  of  his  pack  animal,  and  who  prepared  his  own 
food!'*  ^^We  all  cared  for  his  needs."  ^^Then  every 
one  of  vou  is  better  than  he.  ^'^  There  is  an  unreliable 
tendency  in  a  great  number  of  traditional  stories  of 
exaggerated  penitential  vows,  bodily  self  torment  and 
chastisement,  which  have  as  a  type  a  certain  Abu  Isra  'il.^ 
To  explain  such  efforts  is  of  no  religious,  or  at  least  of 
minor  religious  value.  ^^If  the  monk  (rdhib)  Jureij  (a 
diminutive  of  Gregorius)  had  been  a  true  student  of 
religion,  he  would  have  known  that  the  fulfilment  of  his 
mother's  wishes  were  of  more  value  than  his  devoting 
himself  to  the  service  of  God.''^^ 

Celibacy  received  the  specially  severe  censure  of  the 
prophet.  He  sets  to  right  a  certain  ^Aldiaf  ibn  Wada 
al-Hilali,  who  had  determined  on  a  celibate  life,  with  the 
following  words :  *  *  You  have  then  determined  to  belong 
to  the  brothers  of  Satan!  Either  you  wish  to  be  a 
Christian  monk,  in  which  case  join  them  publicly;  or 
you  belong  to  us,  then  you  must  obey  our  Sunna.  Our 
Sunna,  however,  demands  married  life. '  '^^  Such  sayings 
are  also  attributed  to  him  with  regard  to  those  who  wish 
to  abandon  their  goods  in  order  to  devote  them  to  pious 
ends,  to  the  detriment  of  their  own  families.^ ^ 

These  teachings  of  the  prophet  connected  with  con- 
crete   cases    correspond    also    to    the    current    maxims 
ascribed  to  him.     ^^ There  is  no  monasticism  in  Islam; 
!  the  monasticism  of  this  community  is  religious  war. ''^^ 
This    sentence   is    especially   noteworthy   for   the   way 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  155 

in  which  it  contrasts  the  pious,  contemplative  life  of 
the  cloister  cell,  with  the  active  life  of  a  soldier  which 
has  just  been  mentioned  as  the  cause  of  the  disappearance 
of  the  ascetic  tendencies  of  earliest  Islam. 

In  considering  the  words  of  the  prophet  directed 
against  monasticism,  one  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that 
they  appear  generally  as  a  direct  polemic  against  the 
ascetic  life  in  Christendom.  The  prophet  in  several 
speeches  is  said  to  take  a  stand  against  the  exaggerated 
fasts,  beyond  the  number  of  legal  restrictions.  *^For 
every  bite  which  the  true  believer  takes  into  his  mouth, 
he  receives  a  divine  reward."  ^^God  loves  better  the 
Moslem  who  cares  for  his  physical  strength  than  the 
weakling."  ^^He  who  eats  with  gratitude  (to  God)  is  as 
worthy  as  the  self-denying  faster."^*  It  is  no  virtue  to 
dispose  of  one's  goods  and  then  to  become  a  beggar 
oneself.  Only  he  who  has  a  superfluity  should  give  alms, 
and  even  then  he  should  first  think  of  the  members  of  his 
family.^^  In  all  these  teachings  the  thought  seems  to 
predominate,  that  the  limit  of  worldly  goods  to  be 
acquired  is  determined  by  law,  and  that  no  chastise- 
ments are  desired  beyond  these. 

It  is  important  for  our  consideration  to  emphasize 
once  more  that  it  is  hardly  likely  that  Mohammed  made 
any  of  the  speeches  which  we  have  given  here  as  linked 
with  his  name.  He  himself  had,  with  due  respect  for 
worldly  necessities,  and  with  all  the  indulgence  which  he 
claimed  for  himself,  as  is  evident  in  many  places  in  the 
Koran,^^  the  highest  regard  for  true  asceticism,  pray- 
ing brotherhoods,  penance  and  fasting, — with  one  excep- 
tion perhaps, — celibacy.  His  thoughts,  indeed,  lie  nearer 
to  those  sayings  in  which  restraint  (zuhd)  from  every-, 
thing  worldly  is  commended  as  a  great  virtue,  through' 
which  one  acquires  the  love  of  God.^^  But  it  is  also  as 
important  to  notice  how  the  anti-ascetic  views  of  life, 
called  forth  by  the  external  religion  of  Islam,  expresses 


156  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

itself  in  speeches  and  judgments  which  in  accord  with 
the  procedure  above  set  forth  (p.  151  seq.)  was  attached 
to  the  authority  of  the  prophet. 

The  same  tendency  is  also  apparent  in  another  sphere 
of  tradition  and  literature:  in  the  accounts  of  the  life 
of  the  prophet  and  of  the  Companions. 

It  is  precisely  from  the  little  intimate  traits,  which 
tradition  half  unconsciously  mingles  with  the  portrayal 
of  the  representative  of  sacred  interests,  that  we  can  best 
see  the  predominance  of  the  anti-ascetic  spirit.  The 
prophet's  own  biography  is  full  of  such  traits. 

On  the  whole,  indeed,  we  may  accept  Mohammed's  con- 
tinually increasing  sensuality  as  an  authentic  fact. 
Nevertheless  it  is  an  unique  phenomenon  in  the  religious 
literature  of  all  times  and  all  peoples  that  Islam  offers 
us  in  its  view  of  the  prophet.  Never  has  the  founder  of 
a  religion,  without  prejudice  to  the  ideal  picture  which 
has  been  formed  of  him  (page  20)  been  so  described 
on  his  human,  indeed  his  far  too  human  side,  as  Moham- 
med has  been  described  by  Moslem  tradition.^ ^  The 
widespread  dissemination  of  such  traits  would  no  doubt 
have  been  suppressed  or  modified  in  a  circle  in  which 
asceticism  was  considered  the  perfect  way  of  life.  In- 
stead, such  views  were  regarded  as  furnishing  a  com- 
mentary to  his  own  words:  *^I  am  only  flesh  as  ye" 
(Sura  18,  v.  110).  Nowhere  is  there  a  sign  of  an  effort 
to  remove  from  him  human  lusts  and  passions.  On  the 
contrary  one  finds  the  frank  effort  to  bring  him  humanly 
near  to  his  faithful  for  all  time.  He  is  freely  made  to 
confess:  ^^In  your  world  women  and  sweet  scents  have 
become  precious  to  me'' — ^with  the  addition  ^^and  the 
comfort  of  my  eyes  is  prayer."  Every  opportunity  was 
embraced  to  give  him  attributes  which  are  quite  foreign 
to  any  inclination  toward  asceticism.  Tradition,  frankly 
enough,  even  lets  his  opponents  accuse  him  of  associating 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  157 

only  with  women,  which  could  not  very  well  accord  with 
the  character  of  a  prophet.^^ 

We  notice  the  same  tendency  in  the  intimate  biograph- 
ical notices  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  pious 
Companions.  Through  the  publication  of  the  great  com- 
pilation of  Ibn  Sa^d  we  are  now  in  a  position  to  follow 
this  phase  of  Islamic  biographical  tradition,  since  we  now 
have  biographical  material  extending  to  the  most  minute 
details  of  the  private  life  of  the  oldest  hero  of  Islam, 
formerly  neglected.  It  is  notable  that  these  biographies 
as  a  rule  offer  elaborate  traditions  of  how  these  sacred 
persons  were  wont  to  perfume  themselves,  how  they  dyed 
their  beards  and  hair,  how  they  dressed  and  adorned 
themselves.-^  Perfuming  especially,  which  the  praying 
brotherhoods,  sworn  enemies  of  the  cosmetic  arts,  zeal- 
ously attacked,  is  always  given  a  leading  place.  For 
example,  ^  Othman  ibn  ^  Ubeidallah  recounts  as  a  memory 
of  his  school  days,  that  the  children  were  holding  per- 
fumes to  their  noses  on  an  occasion  when  four  men,  men- 
tioned by  name,  passed  before  the  schoolhouse.  Among 
them  was  Abu  Hureira,  one  of  the  weightiest  authorities 
on  Islamic  tradition.^^ 

They  revel  also  in  the  accounts  of  luxury  which  those 
who  are  recognized  as  models  of  piety  manifested  in  their 
dress.  One  often  reads  that  they  wrapped  themselves 
in  velvet  garments.  For  the  justification  of  such  luxury 
a  saying  which  has  come  down  from  the  prophet  is  often 
used:  *^When  God  favors  a  man  with  wealth,  he  likes 
the  signs  of  it  to  be  apparent.''  With  this  teaching  the 
prophet  blames  wealthy  people  who  appear  before  him 
in  poor  clothes.^^  This  would  scarcely  be  in  keeping 
with  a  religious  tradition  having  its  ideal  in  the  denial 
of  all  worldliness. 

Of  the  numerous  examples  which  serve  to  characterize 
the  spirit  and  the  manner  of  life  of  the  circle  which 


158  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

cherished  these  traditions,  I  wish  to  mention  only  a  small 
detail  which  illustrates  in  a  naive  manner  the  point 
under  consideration. 

The  figure  of  Mohannned  ibn  al-Hanafiyya  ibn  *Ali, 
whom  a  crowd  of  religious  zealots  acclaimed  as  the 
Mahdi,  God's  chosen  redeemer  of  Islam,  is  the  bearer  of 
the  theocratic  idea  under  those  first  Omayyads  decried 
as  godless  usurpers.  His  father,  *Ali,  even  before  the 
birth  of  this  son,  was  given  the  privilege  by  the  prophet 
of  giving  the  child  the  prophet's  own  name:  like  the 
prophet  he  was  to  bear  the  name  Mohammed  Abu-1 
Kasim.  To  him  was  attached  the  belief  in  the  bodily 
continuance  of  the  future  parusia  of  the  person  chosen 
by  God  and  recognized  as  the  Mahdi,  a  belief  with  which 
we  shall  become  more  familiar  in  the  following  chapter. 
In  this  respect  he  was  the  object  of  the  religious  hopes 
of  the  pious  and  of  the  praise  of  poetical  followers.  We 
read  the  following  details  in  the  biographical  tradition 
about  this  sacred  personage.  Abu  Idris  reports  ^'I  saw 
that  Mohammed  ibn  al-Hanafiyya  made  use  of  various 
dyes.  He  confessed  to  me  that  his  father  *Ali  was  not 
wont  to  use  such  cosmetics.  ^Why  do  you  do  it  thenT 
.  .  .  *In  order  to  woo  the  women  with  success,'  was  the 
answer.  "23  Que  would  seek  in  vain  indeed  for  such 
confessions  in  the  Syrian  or  Ethiopic  lives  of  saints.  To 
be  sure  this  Mahdi,  if  we  test  his  character  with  historical 
accuracy,  is  to  all  appearances  a  worldly-minded  man, 
not  averse  to  sensual  pleasures  and  advantages.^*  Yet 
in  the  tradition  of  Islam  he  is  the  embodiment  of  sacred 
interests.  There  was  no  contradiction  of  fact  between 
this  character  and  the  apparently  irreconcilable  con- 
fession which  perhaps  not  without  a  humorous  intent  is 
put  into  his  mouth.  Many  other  biographical  accounts 
from  the  old  times  of  Islam  could  be  given  as  further 
examples  to  illustrate  what  we  have  seen  to  have  been 
the  teachings  of  the  prophet. 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  159 

III.  Such  utterances  and  teachings,  however,  would 
not  have  been  emphasized,  if  at  the  time  of  their  appear- 
ance, there  had  not  manifested  itself  in  the  Moslem  com- 
munity, a  powerful  under-current,  which  continues  to 
cherish  the  ascetic  spirit  of  Islam  and  recognizes  in  it  the 
true  and  pure  religious  manifestation.  We  have  just 
mentioned  that  there  were  praying  brotherhoods,^  who 
regarded  even  the  aestheticism  of  external  appearances 
as  a  breach  of  the  Islamic  ideal  of  life ;  naturally  we  find 
Abu  Isra'il  (referred  to  above,  page  154)  among  these. 
Of  ^Abdalrahman  ibn  al-Aswad  respected  in  the  com- 
munity, but  whose  garb  did  not  suggest  an  unworldly 
demeanor,  he  says :  ^ '  When  I  see  that  man,  I  think  that 
I  see  before  me  an  Arab  who  has  turned  into  a  Persian 
landlord.  He  is  dressed  like  them,  perfumed  like  them 
and  rides  like  them.'^^ 

Especially  in  ^Irak  does  this  tendency  seem  to  have 
found  many  adherents.  Soon  after  the  conquest  and  in 
the  first  Omayyad  period,  they  are  generally  called  'uhhdd 
(sing,  ^abid)  that  is,  those  who  devote  themselves  to  the 
pious  service  of  God,  persons  like  Mi^  dad  ibn  Yezid  from 
the  line  of  'Ijl,  who  fought  under  the  Caliph  ^Othman 
in  the  war  in  Adarbeijan.  He  returned  with  a  number 
of  the  Companions  to  the  cemetery  in  order  there  ^^to 
I  serve  God.^'^  A  perfect  type  of  this  character  is  to  be 
found  in  the  manner  of  life  and  views  of  al-Rabi*  ibn 
Khuthyam  in  Kufa,  his  sole  interest  in  the  things  of  this 
world  revolved  around  ^'the  number  of  mosques  that 
have  arisen  in  the  tribe  of  the  Teim  family. ''  He  did 
not  allow  his  little  daughter,  the  most  harmless  childish 
games ;  he  himself  naturally  turned  away  with  all  his 
soul  from  the  frivolities  introduced  from  Persia.  He 
scorns  the  share  of  ]30oty  coming  to  him  from  the  wars.* 
For  we  must  understand  especially,  that — as  the  two 
examples  show  us — the  asceticism  of  these  people  did 
not  extend  to  exemption  from  warfare,  in  as  much  as  it 
contributed  to  the  spread  of  the  faith.    We  accordingly 


160  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

find  ascetic  traits  at  this  epoch  of  Islam  among  people 
whose  share  in  war  is  given  in  detail.    To  Mohammed's 
speech  against    ^^monasticism''    is   added  the   clause: 
*^the  monasticism  of  my  community  is  Jihad''  (crusade). 
The  more  public  life  turned  to  material  interests  and 
enjoyments,  the  more  motives  did  those  persons  find  who 
sought  the  ideal  of  Islam  in  the  conditions  prevailing 
at  the  time  of  its  origin,  to  demonstrate  in  their  own 
persons  by  laying  aside  all  worldly  interests  the  pro- 
test against  secularization.     In  the  biographies  of  the 
oldest  professors  of  Islam  even  the  martial  heroes  are 
portrayed  as  representatives  of  this  ascetic  tendency,  in 
order  to  hold  them  up  as  models  of  true  believers,  pro- 
testing against  all  kinds  of  worldliness,  and  as  types  of 
asceticism.^    As  a  matter  of  fact  we  have  data  for  the 
assumption  that  the  trend  toward  asceticism  coincides 
with  resistance  against  the  authorities.    It  is  under  the 
caliph  ^Othman  that  an  investigation  is  started  against 
a  man,  who  was  famed  for  having  affronted  the  Imam, 
and  who  did  not  take  part  in  the  public  Friday  cere- 
monies as  a  protest  against  the  recognition  of  the  gov- 
ernment.   He  was  a  vegetarian  and  a  celibate.^    In  view 
of  the  public  conditions  of  which  they  disapproved  in 
their  hearts,  many  entrenched  themselves  in  a  retired 
life,  denying  the  world  and  writing  on  their  banner  the 
motto :  ^ '  Escape  from  the  world. ' ' 

In  connection  with  this  there  is  still  another  important 
external  factor.  It  has  just  been  noted  that  many  of  the 
anti-ascetic  speeches  bore  ear-marks  of  an  undisguised 
polemical  opposition  to  the  ascetic  tendencies  of  Chris- 
tianity. This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  Christian 
asceticism  which  at  the  beginning  of  Islam  offered  the 
immediate  example  for  the  manifestation  of  the  ascetic 
view  of  the  world.  Those  who  in  Islam  fostered  inclina- 
tion toward  the  denial  of  the  world,  were  first  aroused 
and  influenced  by  the  example  of  the  wandering  monks 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  161 

and  penitents  in  Christendom.  Even  before  the  time  of 
Mohammed  the  penitents  mentioned  in  the  ancient  Ara- 
bian poems  gave  to  the  Arabs  a  glimpse  of  the  ascetic 
manner  of  life.  In  many  parts  of  the  heathen  Arabian 
poetry  Christian  monks  and  nuns  in  their  customs  and 
their  manner  of  dress  are  used  as  metaphors  to  illustrate 
a  variety  of  things.'^  It  is  they  who  suggest  to  Moham- 
med himself  the  appellation  which  he  uses  in  the  Koran 
(Sura  9,  v.  113;  66 j  v.  5)  for  the  pious  ascetic  members 
of  his  community,  sd^ihun,  sci'ihat,  i.  e.,  those  of  both 
sexes  who  ^wander  about.'  He  was  thinking  at  that  time 
of  the  wandering  monks  with  whom  he  had  probably  come 
in  contact  during  the  pre-prophetic  period  of  his  life.^ 
A  variant  of  the  traditional  speech  directed  against 
monasticism  runs  as  follows:  ^^ There  is  no  itinerant 
monasticism''  (la  siyahata)  in  Islam.  The  two  expres- 
sions are  synonymous.^ 

By  the  spread  of  Islam,  especially  in  Syria,  Babylonia 
and  Egypt,  those  with  ascetic  tendencies  had  still  greater 
opportunity  of  observing  this  mode  of  life,  and  the 
experience  which  they  could  gain  from  their  contact  with  ^ 
Christians  developed  the  school  of  asceticism  in  Islam. 
Such  inclinations  now  appear  in  increasing  measure  and 
win  for  themselves  constantly  broadening  circles.  The 
adherents  of  this  trend  even  complement  their  doctrinal 
material  from  the  New  Testament  from  which  they  take 
parables  and  maxims  and  use  them  for  the  propagation 
of  their  view  of  life.  The  oldest  literary  work  of  this 
kind,  as  Professor  Margoliouth  has  lately  pointed  out, 
is  full  of  veiled  borrowings  from  the  New  Testament.i^ 
This  ascetic  note  constantly  increasing  in  the  doctrines 
and  life,  impressed  the  believer  of  the  usual  type  as  very 
strained.  This  is  evident,  for  example,  in  the  story  that 
a  lady  once  saw  a  company  of  young  people  who  were 
very  deliberate  in  their  gait  and  slow  in  their  speech— 
a   strong  contrast  indeed  to   the   Arabs'   liveliness   in 


162  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

speech  and  motion.  On  inquiring  as  to  who  these  unusual 
people  were,  she  was  told  that  they  were  nussdh,  that  is, 
ascetics.  She  could  not  refrain  from  remarking:  ''For- 
sooth, when  'Omar  spoke  he  was  heard,  and  he  hurried 
when  he  walked,  and  when  he  struck  he  hurt — such  was 
the  truly  pious  man  (nasik).''^^  If  one  turns  to  Sura  31, 
V.  18,  one  would  be  inclined  to  say  that  the  bearing  of 
these  young  ascetics  would  have  obtained  the  approval 
of  Mohammed. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  these  people  first  mani- 
fest their  asceticism  in  the  line  of  food.  That  they  should 
fast  much  is  fairly  comprehensible.  Against  such  people, 
are  directed  the  traditional  sayings  and  stories  dealing 
with  the  evil  of  immoderate  fasting.^^  Together  with  this 
tendency  we  find  examples  of  abstinence  from  meat,  a 
form  of  asceticism  for  which  examples  are  being  drawn 
even  from  the  time  of  the  Companions.^^  A  certain  Ziyad 
ibn  abi  Ziyad,  who  belonged  as  a  client  to  the  tribe 
of  the  Makhzum,  and  is  represented  as  an  ascetic,  world- 
renouncing  individual,  who  constantly  performed  pious 
acts,  clothed  himself  in  coarse  woolen  garb  (sfif)  and 
refrained  from  meat,  is  said  to  have  been  the  type  of 
a  whole  class  in  the  time  of  'Omar  11.^*  The  saying 
ascribed  to  the  prophet  attacks  them  as  follows:  "He 
who  tastes  no  meat  for  forty  days,  acquires  a  bad 
character.  "^'^ 

Side  by  side  with  these  negative  elements  in  practical 
life  there  also  arise  positive  aspects  of  worship  and 
of  the  philosophy  of  life.  They  are  not  in  themselves 
contradictory  to  the  teachings  of  the  Koran,  but  are 
rather  exaggerations  of  single  elements  in  its  religious 
teaching  and  its  ethics.  But  although  in  the  Koran  they 
are  regarded  as  proper  links  in  the  chain  of  Moslem  doc- 
trines, in  the  circles  to  which  Mohammedan  asceticism 
owes  its  development,  they  are  looked  upon  as  of  funda- 
mental importance,  by  the  side  of  which  all  other  ele- 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  163 

ments  of  the  religious  life  move  into  the  background. 
In  this  one-sided  exaggeration  lies  the  seed  of  the  split 
which  later  broke  out  between  such  efforts  and  the 
teachings  of  Moslem  orthodoxy.^^ 

IV.  Two  factors  especially  appear  in  the  oldest  stage 
of  Moslem  asceticism  as  objects  of  such  exaggeration: 
a  liturgical  and  an  ethical.  The  liturgical  appears  in 
the  terminus  dikr^  literally  ^'mention"  (of  the  name 
of  Allah),  which  has  kept  its  place  in  the  whole  develop- 
ment of  Moslem  mysticism.  Official  Islam  limits  the 
liturgical  worship  of  God  to  definite  moments  of  the 
day  and  night.  This  limitation  and  demarcation  is 
disregarded  by  the  ascetic  view,  for  they  regard  the 
exhortation  of  the  Koran  ^^  Allah  should  be  thought  of 
frequently'*  (Sura  33,  v.  14)  from  the  point  of  view  of 
religious  practice,  and  exalt  the  devotional  practices  to 
which  they  give  the  name  Dikr  to  first  place  in  practical 
religion,  by  the  side  of  which  other  practices  lose  their 
value  and  shrink  into  insignificance.  It  is  these  mystical 
litanies  which  to-day  still  form  the  backbone  of  the 
groups  representing  the  heritage  of  those  ancient 
ascetics. 

The  ethical  peculiarity,  which  is  sharply  apparent  in 
the  asceticism  of  that  ancient  period,  is  the  exaggeration 
of  the  confidence  in  God  (tawakkul),  which  these  Moslen^^ 
ascetics  have  carried  to  the  highest  stage  of  inactive 
quietism.  It  is  the  complete  indifference  and  the  laying 
aside  of  all  initiative  in  their  personal  interests.  They 
completely  give  themselves  over  to  God's  care  of  them 
and  his  fate.  They  are  in  the  hands  of  God  like  the 
corpse  in  the  hands  of  the  one  who  washes  it  •}  absolutely 
weak  and  indifferent.  They  call  themselves  mutawak- 
hilun,  that  is,  those  *who  trust  in  God.'  A  number  of 
their  principles  have  come  down  to  us  from  which  it  is 
evident  that  they  scorn  to  raise  a  hand  to  obtain  the  needs 
of  life.    That  would  be  a  violation  of  the  trust  in  God. 


164  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

They  do  not  trouble  themselves  about  the  ** means/' 
but  commit  their  needs  directly  to  God,  and  consider 
their  trustful  inactivity  in  contrast  with  the  cares  of 
tradesmen,  the  humiliation  of  the  artizan  and  the  self- 
debasement  of  the  beggar  as  the  most  exalted  kind  of 
self-preservation.  *^They  experience  the  Most  High  and 
receive  their  nourishment  directly  from  His  hand,  with- 
out looking  for  the  means."  It  is  recounted  as  a  special 
virtue  of  these  people  that  they  do  not  count  the  morrow 
in  the  number  of  days."  The  future  and  its  cares  is 
completely  left  out  of  their  sphere  of  thought.  A  Hadith 
(to  be  sure  a  very  suspected  one)^  is  quoted:  ^^ Wisdom 
comes  down  from  heaven,  but  it  does  not  enter  the  heart 
of  any  man  who  thinks  of  the  morrow. "  ^ '  He  who  trusts 
in  God  is  the  ^ child  of  the  moment'  (^of  time,'  ihn  al- 
wakt),  he  neither  looks  back  into  the  past  nor  forward 
into  the  future.''* 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  complete  aktemosure,  poverty, 
and  the  rejection  of  all  material  goods,  are  regarded  of 
the  greatest  importance  by  these  people.  He  who  belongs 
to  them  is  a  faJclr,  a  poor  man.  Furthermore,  as  they 
are  indifferent  to  hunger  and  physical  hardships  of  all 
kinds,  so  are  they  also  indifferent  to  all  other  bodily 
discomforts.  Bodily  ills  must  not  arouse  in  them  the 
desire  of  alleviation  by  medical  aid.  Nor  are  they 
affected  by  the  judgment  and  the  opinion  of  men.  ^'No 
man  has  entered  into  the  trust  in  God  to  whom  the 
praise  and  blame  of  mankind  is  not  absolutely  indiffer- 
ent. ' '  "With  this  quietism  comes  a  complete  indifference 
to  the  treatment  they  may  receive  from  men.  ^^Eesist 
notevH"   (Matt,  v,  39). 

That  such  a  conception  of  life  did  not  agree  with  the 
usual  views  of  Islam,  which  in  the  first  century  had 
already  started  in  the  path  of  realism,  is  shown  by  a 
systematic  collection  of  Hadith  speeches  and  tales,  which 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  165 

can  only  be  understood  in  their  signification  as  an  obvi- 
ous polemic  against  the  religious  consequences  of  the 
extravagant  trust  in  God.  How  could  this  quietism  find 
acceptance  in  a  religious  community  which  had  just 
reached  the  height  of  its  career  of  conquest,  which  had 
but  a  short  time  ago  forsaken  the  deserts  to  establish 
itself  comfortably  in  cities,  surrounded  by  luxury  and 
well-being  ? 

V.  At  this  period  in  Islam,  two  currents  were  striv- 
ing against  each  other.  They  find  expression  in  a  dia- 
logue between  two  pious  men,  Malik  ibn  Dinar  and 
Mohammed  ibn  Wasi%  who  converse  on  the  theme  of 
the  summum  bonum.  While  one  finds  the  highest  happi- 
ness in  possessing  a  piece  of  ground  from  which  sub- 
stance can  be  obtained  independent  of  man,  the  other  is 
of  the  opinion  that  that  man  is  blessed  who  finds  his 
breakfast  without  knowing  what  will  be  his  evening  meal, 
and  who  finds  his  evening  meal  without  knowing  with 
what  he  will  satisfy  his  hunger  the  next  morning.^  The 
pious  reaction  against  excessive  worldliness — a  reaction 
reflecting  the  ascetic  beginnings  of  Islam — manifests 
itself  in  the  extreme  expression  of  this  quietistic  view  of 
life.2 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  this  tendency  received 
its  impetus  from  Christian  monasticism,  with  whose 
aims  the  principles  just  referred  to  correspond  almost 
word  for  word.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  parts  of  the 
Gospel  which  are  most  used  in  the  ascetic  sayings.  Matt, 
vi,  25-34;  Luke  xii,  22-30,  about  the  birds  of  the  air 
which  sow  not  neither  do  they  reap  nor  gather  into  barns, 
but  are  nourished  by  their  heavenly  father — find  an 
almost  literal  reproduction  in  the  core  of  the  Tawakkul 
doctrine.^  Imitating  the  habit  of  Christian  anchorite  or 
monk,  these  world-denying  penitents  and  ascetics  of 
Islam  were  wont  to  clothe  themselves  in  coarse  woolen 


166  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

clothes  (suf).^  This  custom  can  be  traced  back  at  least 
to  the  time  of  the  Caliph  ^Abdalmalik  (685-705)  and  is 
the  source  of  the  appellation  Siifi,^  an  appellation  which 
the  followers  of  the  ascetic  tendencies  assume  at  a  time 
when  their  practical  asceticism  leads  to  further  develop- 
ment and  gives  rise  to  a  special  kind  of  philosophy,  which 
also  influences  the  conception  of  religion. 

VI.  In  this  development  the  penetration  of  neo- 
Platonic  speculation  into  the  intellectual  circles  of  Islam 
was  of  marked  importance.  This  philosophical  tendency 
whose  marked  influence  on  the  development  of  Islam  will 
be  taken  up  again  later,  offered  a  theoretico-theological 
background  for  the  practical  ascetic  tendencies  which 
have  just  been  described.  He  who  is  scornful  of  all 
earthly  things,  and  fixes  his  soul  on  the  only  lasting  thing, 
on  the  divine,  can  prepare  himself  for  this  ^^transcend- 
ent divine  life  and  attitude,'^  through  the  'Emanation' 
doctrine  of  Plotinus  with  its  dynamic  pantheism.  He 
feels  the  radiation  of  divine  strength  in  the  whole  uni- 
verse. The  things  of  this  world  are  like  a  mirror  in 
which  the  divine  is  reflected.  But  these  reflected  images 
are  only  appearances  and  have  only  a  relative  reality, 
in  so  far  as  they  reflect  the  only  true  existence.  Man 
must  direct  all  of  his  efforts  accordingly.  He  must 
through  introspection  and  the  stripping  off  of  the 
material  covering,  let  the  eternal  beauty  and  goodness 
of  the  divine  penetrate  his  being,  and  through  inner 
aspiration  get  rid  of  the  semblance  of  his  personal 
existence,  in  order  to  attain  the  absorption  of  his  per- 
sonality in  the  one  real  di\dne  existence. 

In  the  beginning,  my  soul  and  thine  were  one:  my  appear- 
ance and  thine,  my  disappearance  and  thine ;  it  would  have  been 
untrue  to  speak  of  Mine  and  Thine.  The  I  and  the  Thou  have 
ceased  between  us  !^ 

I  am  not  I,  Thou  are  not  Thou,  nor  art  thou  I.  I  am  simul- 
taneously I  and  Thou,  Thou  art  simultaneously  Thou  and  I. 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  167 

In  relation  to  Thee,  0  fair  one  of  Khoten,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know 
if  Thou  art  I  or  I  am  Thou.^ 

The  limits  of  personality  form  the  veil  which  hides  the 
divine  from  man.  With  a  little  exaggeration,  the 
prophet  whom  the  Sufis  claim  is  the  herald  of  their 
theories,  is  made  to  say :  *  ^  Thine  existence  is  a  sin,  with  y" 
which  no  other  sin  can  be  compared. '  '^  By  this  is  meant 
the  manifestation  of  one's  existence,  the  assertion  of 
life  as  an  independent  individual.  Through  inward 
self -contemplation,  through  pious  practices,  through 
ascetic  chastisement  which  results  in  ecstatic  conditions 
where  the  person  seems  drunk  with  the  divine,"*  the  per- 
sonality, the  ego,  the  duality  toward  God,  is  overcome, 
and  there  is  attained  a  complete  lack  of  feeling  toward 
bodily  conditions  and  an  existence  ^^  without  cares,  with- 
out thought  and  needs  and  ills.*' — This  is  pictured  by 
Jelal  al-din  Rumi,  the  greatest  interpreter  of  this  view 
of  the  world: 

Cleanse  thyself  of  all  the  attributes  of  self, 
So  that  thou  may'st  see  thy  shining  being.^ 

Even  time  and  space  cease  in  his  consciousness  to  be 
the  categories  of  his  existence : 

My  place  is  without  place ;  my  track  is  trackless.^ 

For  the  Sufi  who  comprehends  the  truth  of  heaven 
and  earth  there  is  no  above  and  below,  no  before  and 
after,  no  right  and  left."^ 

^^He  who  does  not  go  out  of  the  palace  of  natural 
being, ' '  say  Hafiz,  '  ^  cannot  reach  the  village  of  truth. '  '* 
This  stripping  of  all  natural  qualities  (sifdt)  which  are 
called  forth  through  the  sensitiveness  of  the  individual 
to  the  impress  of  the  outer  world,  the  denial  of  all  acts 
of  the  will  and  feeling,  the  inner  moods  which  he  defines 


168  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

with  the  word  jam'  (concentration,  the  Indian  samadhi)^ 
in  contrast  to  the  condition  of  the  soul  which  is  affected 
by  externalities,  the  Sufi  conceives  under  the  picture  of 
drunkenness.  He  is  intoxicated  by  the  stupefying 
draught  of  the  beauty  of  the  light  of  God,  which  streams 
into  his  soul  and  filling  it,  robs  him  of  his  physical  sense. 

The  final  goal  of  the  Sufi  life,  the  rise  of  the  individual 
:  into  the  one  reality  of  the  divine  being  is  also  represented 
by  the  picture  of  love.  Of  this  love  {mahahha),  Hallaj 
who,  because  of  his  claim  to  complete  oneness  with  the 
godhead,  was  executed  by  the  true  believers  in  Baghdad 
(309/921),  is  seized,  and  he  speaks  of  it  to  his  followers 
before  he  gives  himself  up  to  the  executioner.  The  most 
famous  Arab  Sufi  poet,  'Omar  ibn  al-Farid  (d.  Cairo 
632/1235),  one  of  whose  mystic  poems  Hammer-Purgstall 
introduced  into  German  literature  under  the  title  The 
Arabic  Canticle  of  Love*  (Vienna  1854),  on  account  of 
the  prevailing  theme  of  his  poems  received  from  later 
ages  the  epitaph  Sultan  al-  dsliikm  (prince  of  lovers). 

Intoxicating  liquor  itself,  the  Sufis  like  to  call  the  love 
potion  {sharab-al-mahahha) }^ 

Love  is  the  quenching  of  the  will  and  the  burning  up  of  all 
physical  qualities  and  longings.^ ^ 

Love  came  and  freed  me  from  all  else;  it  graciously  raised 
me,  after  it  had  thrown  me  to  the  ground.  Thank  the  Lord  that 
he  has  dissolved  me  like  sugar  in  the  water  of  union  with  him. 

I  went  to  the  physician  and  said  to  him :  ' '  0  thou  intelligent 
one;  what  dost  thou  prescribe  (as  medicine)  for  love-sickness?" 
Thou  prescribest  the  giving  up  of  qualities  (sifat)  and  the 
extuiction  of  my  existence.    This  is,  "Leave  everything  that  is." 

As  long  as  you  are  sober,  you  will  not  attain  the  joy  of  drunk- 
enness; as  long  as  you  do  not  surrender  your  body,  you  will 
not  attain  the  cult  of  the  soul ;  as  long  as  you  do  not  annihilate 
yourself  in  love  towards  your  friend,  as  water  through  fire,  you 
will  not  attain  being. 

*  Das  Arabische  Holie  Lied  der  Liebe. 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  169 

On  the  day  of  judgment  he  is  justified  by  this  love : 

On  the  morrow  when  man  and  woman  go  to  the  judgment- 
place,  their  faces  will  become  yellow  with  the  fear  of  the  reckon- 
ing. I  come  before  thee  holding  my  love  in  my  hand,  and  say: 
''My  reckoning  must  be  made  through  this."^^ 

Love  toward  God  is  then  the  formula  for  the  concen- 
trated effort  of  the  soul  to  let  the  appearance  of  the| 
personal  existence  pass  over  into  the  Truth  of  the  divine, 
all-comprehending  being;  a  thought  which  has  engen- 
dered a  poetic  literature  of  the  choicest  character  in  all 
the  languages  of  cultured  Moslems. 

This  view  of  the  world  has  adapted  itself  now  as  a 
theocratic  basis  for  quietism  and  Dikr-cult  of  the  prac- 
tical ascetic.  They  strove  by  means  of  meditation  and 
Dikr  practices  to  reach  the  ecstatic  condition  in  which 
their  divine  intoxication  and  their  love  of  God  might  be 
made  manifest;  an  entirely  different  path  from  that  by 
which  orthodox  Islam  strove  to  attain  the  love  of  God 
commended  in  the  Koran  and  in  tradition.^  ^ 

Sufiism,  accordingly,  surpasses  the  ideal  of  the  phi- 
losophers by  setting  up  an  aim  for  human  perfection 
of  soul,  and  by  defining  the  summum  bonum.  Ibn  Sab^  in 
of  Murkia  (d.  668/1269  in  Mecca),  a  philosopher  and  a 
Sufi,  who  was  charged  with  the  answers  to  the  ^  ^  Sicilian 
questions'^  of  the  Hohenstaufen  Frederick  II,  finds  the 
formula  for  this  ^Hhat  the  ancient  philosophers  set  up 
as  their  highest  aim  (see  above  p.  31)  to  become  like  God, 
while  the  Sufi  wishes  to  reach  the  merging  into  God 
through  the  ability  to  let  divine  grace  penetrate  him,  to 
wash  away  the  sensuous,  and  to  purify  the  spiritual 
impressions."^* 

VII.  As  is  the  case  elsewhere  in  religious  orders,  the 
Sufis  in  so  far  as  they  attached  any  value  to  it  at  all, 
wished  to  stand  within  the  bounds  of  Islam,  or  at  least, 
to  be  recognized  as  doing  so.    They  wished  to  interpret 


170  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

their  view  of  the  world  into  the  Koran,  and  into  the 
hallowed  tradition,  and  prove  their  theories  by  the  sacred 
texts.  Thus  they  caused  Islam  to  enter  into  the  inheri- 
tance of  Philo  and  manifested  in  their  writings  the  con- 
viction that  beyond  the  apparent,  indifferent  meaning  of 
the  words  of  the  sacred  text  are  contained  deep  philo- 
sophical truths  which  are  to  be  discovered  by  allegorical 
interpretation.  Wlien,  for  example,  in  the  Koran  (Sura 
36,  V.  12  ff.)  the  simile  is  introduced  regarding 

the  inhabitants  of  the  people  of  the  city  when  the  messengers 
came  to  it.  When  we  sent  two  unto  them  and  they  charged 
them  both  with  imposture — therefore  with  a  third  we  strength- 
ened them :  and  they  said,  ' '  Verily  we  are  those  sent  unto  you 
of  God."  They  said,  "Ye  are  only  men  like  us :  Nought  hath  the 
God  of  mercy  sent  down.  Ye  do  nothing  but  lie."  They  said, 
* '  Our  Lord  knoweth  that  we  are  surely  sent  unto  you. ' ' 

This  word  of  God,  they  contend,  can  surely  not  denote 
as  common  a  daily  occurrence  as  the  sense  of  the  word 
would  imply.  Eather  is  the  city  nothing  else  but  the 
body,  the  three  messengers  being  the  spirit,  the  heart 
and  reason.  On  this  basis  the  whole  story,  the  refusal 
of  the  two  first,  the  reception  of  the  third  messenger 
and  the  behavior  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  as  well 
as  their  punishment,  is  explained  allegorically. 

Thus  the  Sufi  exegetes  have  their  own  allegorical 
ta'wil  (see  above  p.  114),  an  esoteric  interpretation  of 
the  scriptures,  which  has  resulted  in  much  literature,^ 
and  which  permeated  aU  Sufi  writings.  In  order  to 
make  this  esoterism  correspond  to  Islam  by  means  of 
legitimate  tradition  they  borrowed  from  the  Shiites  (see 
below  Chapter  V)  the  belief  that  Mohammed  entrusted 
the  hidden  sense  of  revelation  to  his  proxy  *Ali;  this 
teaching,  cherished  among  the  chosen  only,  forms  the 
Kabbalah  of  SUfiism.     The  Arab  Sufi  poet  mentioned 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  171 

above,   ^Omar  ibn  al-Farid,  expresses  this  idea  so  deep- 
rooted  in  Stif  1  circles,  as  follows : 

And  by  means  of  Ta'wil  did  'Ali  explain  what  was  dark,  by 
means  of  a  knowledge  which  he  received  (from  the  prophet)  as 
a  legacy  (wasiyya).^ 

To  them  ^Ali  was  the  patriarch  of  Moslem  mysticism, 
a  view  which  from  the  standpoint  of  the  orthodox  Sunnas 
was  decidedly  to  be  rejected.  The  prophet  kept  nothing 
from  the  great  generality  of  his  community,  he  shared 
no  secret  knowledge  with  any  one.^ 

Together  with  this,  however,  we  find  the  phenomenon 
that  the  worship  of  ^Ali  appears  to  an  extravagant 
extent  in  many  Sufi  circles,  at  times  even  penetrates  into 
the  form  of  its  mystical  teachings,  and  that  many  varia- 
tions of  the  fictitious  chain  of  Sufi  tradition  in  the 
measure  that  it  departs  from  orthodoxy,  is  carried  along 
the  line  of  the  ^Aliite  Imams.  The  Bektashi  orders,  on 
whose  ^Ali-  and  Imam-cult  the  recent  investigations  of 
George  Jacob  have  thrown  light,  are  an  example  of  the 
steadily  increasing  prominence  accorded  in  Siifiism  to 
the  worship  of  *Ali. 

VIII.  English  scholars  who  have  in  recent  years  made 
a  thorough  study  of  the  origin  and  development  of 
Sufiism,  such  as  E.  H.  Wliinfield,  Edward  G.  Browne, 
and  Reynold  A.  Nicholson,  have  clearly  shown  the  neo- 
Platonic  character  of  Sufiism.^  At  the  same  time,  other 
influences  are  not  denied,  which  in  the  course  of  the  devel- 
opment of  this  religio-philosophical  system  furnish  essen- 
tial elements.  In  a  consideration  of  historical  Sufiism 
there  are  decisive  factors  which  cannot  be  set  aside,  such 
as  the  influence  of  India  which  make  themselves  felt  from 
the  time  when  Islam  by  its  spread  eastward  to  the  very 
boundaries  of  China,  brings  Indian  thought  more  and 
more  into  its  horizon.     This  Indian  influence  has  mani- 


172  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

fested  itself  partly  in  literature  and  partly  in  the  intro- 
duction of  Indian  elements  into  the  sphere  of  religious 
imagery. 

When  in  the  second  century,  activity  in  translation  en- 
larged the  literary  treasures  written  in  Arabic,  and  Bud- 
dhist works  were  embodied  in  Arabic  literature,  we  find  an 
Arabic  version  of  the  ^  ^  Bilauhar  wa-Budasif '  ^  ( Barlaam 
and  Joasaf),  and  also  a  ^^Budd-book.''^  In  the  highly 
cultivated  circles,  which  led  the  adherents  of  the  most 
varied  religious  views  to  a  free  exchange  of  ideas,  fol- 
lowers of  the  Shumaniyya,  i.  e.  of  the  Buddhistic  view  of 
the  world,  are  not  lacking.^  I  should  like  merely  to  men- 
tion the  fact  that  the  religious  view  which  arose  in  oppo- 
sition to  legal  Islam,  known  as  zuhd  (asceticism),  and 
which  is  not  identical  with  our  Sufiism,  shows  strong 
evidences  of  the  impression  of  Indian  ideals  of  life.  One 
of  the  leading  upholders  of  the  ziihd  conception,  Abu-1- 
^Atahiya,  is  set  up  as  an  example  of  a  highly  honoured 
man:  ^^the  king  in  the  garments  of  a  beggar, — it  is  he 
whose  reverence  is  great  among  men.^^  Is  this  not  the 
Buddha?* 

And  to  anticipate  a  later  period  we  may  be  reminded 
of  what  Alfred  v.  Kremer  has  said  concerning  the 
Indian  elements  which,  as  he  showed,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  religious  and  social  views  of  the  world  as  expressed 
in  the  principles  found  in  the  life  and  philosophical  poems 
of  Abu-l-'Ala  al-Ma'arri.^ 

The  wandering  Indian  monks  bear  witness  to  the  fact 
that  the  Indian  world  did  not  appear  on  the  Moslem 
horizon  in  a  theoretical  way  alone.  As  early  as  the  time 
of  the  ^Abbasides  in  Mesopotamia,  these  monks  were  a 
factor  of  practical  importance  to  the  adherents  of  Islam, 
just  as  in  earlier  times  the  wandering  Christian  monks 
(sa'ihun)  had  attracted  attention  in  Syria  (above  page 
161).    Jahiz  (d.  255/866)  pictures  very  graphically  the 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  173 

wandering  monks  who  could  have  belonged  neither  to 
Christianity  nor  to  Islam.  He  calls  them  '  ^  Zindlk  monks, ' ' 
an  ambiguous  appellation,  which,  nevertheless,  as  our 
case  shows  cannot  be  limited  simply  to  Manichsean.  His 
source  of  information  tells  him  that  such  begging  monks 
always  go  in  pairs:  ^4f  thou  seest  one  of  them,  thou  art 
sure  with  careful  observation  to  find  his  companion 
nearby. ' '  Their  rule  consists  in  never  spending  the  night 
twice  in  one  place.  Four  characteristics  signalize  their 
wandering  life :  holiness,  purity,  truth  and  poverty.  One 
of  the  anecdotes  told  of  the  beggar  lives  of  these  monks, 
goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  one  of  them  preferred  to  bring 
the  suspicion  of  theft  upon  himself,  and  endure  mal- 
treatment, rather  than  betray  a  thieving  bird.  He  did 
not  wish  to  be  the  cause  of  the  death  of  a  living  being.^ 
If  these  people  were  not  actually  Indian  Sadhus  or 
Buddha  monks,  they  were  at  least  men  who  were  follow- 
ing the  example  and  method  of  the  latter. 

It  was  from  such  points  of  view,  by  such  experiences 
and  contact,  that  Suf  lism,  which  by  virtue  of  its  original 
tendencies  shows  itself  so  closely  related  to  Indian 
thought,  was  to  be  influenced.  We  may,  for  example, 
take  as  signs  of  the  influence  of  Buddhism  the  fact  that 
the  ascetic  literature  of  the  Mohammedans  richly  fos- 
tered the  type  of  the  powerful  master  who  has  cast  aside 
his  earthly  kingdom  and  has  denied  the  world.'^  This 
teaching  to  be  sure  is  very  trivial  in  the  presentation 
of  this  motive,  and  does  not  attain  the  overpowering 
sublimity  of  the  Buddha  type.  A  powerful  king  once 
saw  two  gray  hairs  in  his  beard:  he  pulled  them  out: 
they  constantly  reappeared,  which  led  him  to  reflection: 
** these  are  two  messengers,  whom  God  is  sending  me  in 
order  to  exhort  me  to  forsake  the  world  and  give  myself 
up  to  him.  I  will  obey  them.''  So  he  suddenly  forsook 
his   kingdom,    wandered    in   forests    and    deserts,    and 


174  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  God  to  the  end  of  his 
life.^  There  are  a  large  number  of  ascetic  stories  which 
are  concerned  with  this  motif— the  satiety  of  worldly 

power. 

It  is  of  decisive  importance  for  the  point  under  consid- 
eration that  the  legends  of  one  of  the  leading  patriarchs 
of  Sufiism  bears  the  character  of  a  Buddha  biography. 
I  refer  to  the  legends  of  the  saint  Ibrahim  ibn  Edhem 
(d.  about  160/2=776/8) .  The  motives  for  his  flight  from 
the  world  are  variously  explained  in  different  legends. 
All  the  versions  agree,  however,  in  representing  Ibrahim 
as  the  son  of  a  king  from  Balkh,  who  was  induced  to 
cast  aside  his  princely  cloak  and  to  exchange  it  for  the 
garment  of  a  beggar,  to  forsake  his  palace,  to  give  up 
all  his  relations  in  the  world,  even  his  wife  and  child,  to 
wander  into  the  desert,  and  there  to  lead  a  wandering 
life.  According  to  some  reports  he  was  bidden  to  do 
this  by  divine  voice :  according  to  others,  by  the  observa- 
tion of  the  life  of  a  poor  man  without  any  needs  whose 
conduct  he  observed  from  the  window  of  his  palace.  Of 
the  motives  assigned  for  the  flight  from  the  world  one 
deserves  special  mention.  The  story  is  told  by  Jelal 
al-din  Riimi,  that  one  night  Ibrahim  ibn  Edhem 's  palace- 
guard  heard  a  noise  on  the  palace  roof.  When  the  noise 
was  investigated,  men  were  caught  who  pretended  that 
they  were  looking  for  their  runaway  camel.  The  intrud- 
ers were  brought  before  the  prince,  and  when  he  asked 
them:  ''Who  has  ever  looked  for  a  camel  on  the  roof 
of  a  house r'  they  answered:  ''We  are  simply  follow- 
ing thy  example,  since  thou  dost  strive  after  union  with 
God  while  thou  sittest  on  thy  throne.  Who  has  ever  been 
able  to  draw  near  to  God  in  such  a  place  T'  Thereupon 
he  was  said  to  have  fled  from  the  palace  never  again  to 
be  seen  of  any  one.^ 

IX.  Under  Indian  influence  the  Sufi  conception 
became  much  intensified.    The  pantheistic  idea  surpasses 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  175 

the  confines  assigned  to  it  within  neo-Platonism.  It  is 
especially  the  idea  of  the  absorption,  however,  of  the  per- 
sonality which  moves  on  the  plane  of  the  Atman  concept. 
Even  if  it  does  not  entirely  attain  to  it,  the  Sufis  call  the 
state  of  absorption  fand  (destruction),^  **niahw"  (ex-\ 
tinction),  ^'istihlak''  (annihilation)  an  almost  indefin- j 
able  goal,  and  of  which  they  assert  that  it  will  bear  no  ' 
coherent  definition.  It  manifests  itself,  they  say,  as  an 
intuitive  knowledge  and  defies  logical  comprehension. 
*^When  the  temporal  joins  the  eternal,  no  existence  is 
left  to  the  former.  Thou  hearest  and  seest  nothing  but 
Allah.  When  thou  attainest  the  conviction  that  nothing 
exists  outside  of  Allah,  when  thou  dost  recognize  that 
thou  thyself  art  he,  that  thou  art  identical  with  him, 
nothing  exists  outside  of  him.''  The  denial  of  self-exist- 
ence is  the  condition  of  union  with  God. 

Let  me  become  non-existent,  for  non-existence 
Calls  to  me  with  the  tone  of  an  organ. 
''To  him  let  us  turn  back.''^ 

Individual  being  merges  completely  into  the  all-being 
of  the  Godhead.  Neither  time  nor  space,  not  even  the 
modalities  of  existence  limit  its  boundlessness.  Man 
raises  himself  to  a  complete  identity  with  the  foundation 
of  all  being,  the  comprehension  of  which  lies  beyond  all 
knowledge. 

As  Buddhism  has  the  ** noble  path,''  the  eight-fold 
way  by  which  man  attains  by  degrees  the  highest  degree 
of  the  annihilation  of  individuality,  so  Sufiism  also  has 
its  tarlka,  its  path  with  manifold  degrees  and  stations  of 
perfection.  Those  who  are  on  this  path  are  wanderers 
{al-sdlikuna,  ahl  al-suluk).  Even  if  the  peculiarities  of 
the  way  differ  they  nevertheless  agree  in  principle.  For 
example,  in  both,  meditation,^  called  in  Sufiism  mura- 
kaba,  in  Buddhism  dhyana,  forms  an  important  part  of 


176  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  preparatory  steps  to  perfection.     ''Even  the  medi- 
tator and  the  object  of  meditation  become  completely 


one. ' ' 


This  is  the  aim  of  Sufi  tauMd,  the  interpenetration  of 
Unity.  It  is  fundamentally  different  from  the  usual 
Moslem  monotheistic  conception  of  God.  A  Sufi  goes  so 
far  as  to  say  it  is  Shirk  (above  page  48)  to  assert  that 
*^I  KNOW  God'^  for  in  this  sentence  duality  between  the 
perceiving  subject  and  the  object  of  knowledge  is  in- 
volved. This  also  is  Indian  theosophy.* 
.  X.  Siifiism  is  demonstrated  as  an  institution  in  ex- 
ternal life  through  the  various  Sufi  societies  and  orders 
whose  members  cherish  the  Sfifi  views  of  the  world  and 
religion.  Ever  since  about  150/770  these  people  have 
gathered  together  more  and  more  in  their  own  houses 
and  cloisters  where,  far  from  the  noise  of  the  world,  they 
try  to  live  up  to  their  ideals  and  perform  in  common  the 
practices  leading  up  to  them.  Indian  influences  are  very 
evident  also  in  the  development  of  this  cloister  life,  just 
as  the  beggar's  life  of  the  Sufis  outside  of  the  monastic 
community  offers  a  reflex  of  the  Indian  begging  monk 
(sadhu).  The  consideration  of  neo-Platonic  influence 
alone  is  no  longer  sufficient  for  the  practical  demonstra- 
tion of  Sufi  asceticism.  The  reception  of  the  initiates 
into  the  Sufi  community  takes  place  through  the  investi- 
ture of  the  Khirka,  i.  e.,  of  the  garment  which  symbolizes 
the  Sufi's  poverty  and  flight  from  the  world.  In  its  way 
the  Sufi  legend  carries  the  origin  of  the  Khirka  back  to 
the  prophet  himself.^  It  is  unmistakable,  nevertheless, 
that  this  symbol  of  initiation  resembles  that  of  the  initia- 
tion into  the  community  of  the  Bhikshus  through  'Hhe 
receiving  of  the  robe  and  the  rules. '  '^  Many  forms  also  of 
the  religious  practice  of  the  Dikr  in  the  Sufi  conmiunities 
as  well  as  the  means  used  for  the  bringing  about  of  the 
''kenosis''    and   ecstacy,   the   discipline   of   breathing,^ 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  177 

have  been  investigated  by  Kremer  in  his  Indian  examples, 
and  their  dependence  on  the  latter  pointed  out. 

Among  these  means  of  devotion  is  the  rosary  which 
soon  spread  beyond  the  Sufi  circle,  the  Indian  origin  of 
which  and  its  use  in  Islam  in  the  nineteenth  century  are 
beyond  question.  It  began  in  Eastern  Islam  which  is  the 
hearth  of  Indian  influence  exerted  on  Sufi  society.  Like 
other  innovations  this  foreign  usage  had  to  encounter 
for  a  long  time  the  opponents  of  all  religious  innovations. 
As  late  as  the  fifteenth  century  al-Suyiiti  was  obliged 
to  issue  a  defense  of  the  use  of  the  rosary  which  has 
since  then  become  so  popular.^ 

In  a  historical  estimate  of  Sufiism  one  must  always 
take  into  consideration  this  Indian  influence  which  was 
of  so  much  importance  in  the  development  of  this  reli- 
gious system  growing  out  of  neo-Platonism. 

Snouck-Hurgronje  in  his  Leiden  inaugural  lecture 
justly  brought  forward  among  his  proofs  of  the  Indian 
descent  of  Islam  in  those  countries,  that  in  East  Indian 
Islam  Sufi  ideas  form  the  kernel  and  foundation  itself 
of  the  popular  conception  of  religion.^ 

XI.  In  the  preceding  description  of  the  Sufi  concep- 
tion of  life  we  showed  the  chief  points  of  view  common 
to  Sufiism,  and  how  they  made  their  appearance  at 
the  height  of  its  development.  In  course  of  time  these 
points  of  view  were  elaborated.  The  detailed  histor- 
ical development  we  cannot  enter  upon  here,  nor  is  it 
necessary  to  do  so,  since  we  may  shortly  expect  a  treat- 
ment of  the  subject  by  an  authority  on  Sufiism,  Reynold 
A.  Nicholson.  Besides  Sufiism  does  not  represent  either 
in  its  theories  or  in  its  activities  a  unified  and  complete 
system.  Not  even  in  the  formulation  of  the  universal 
aim  is  any  actual  unanimity  to  be  found,  far  less  in  the 
details  of  its  philosophy.    Besides  the  inner  development, 


178  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

we  must  not  forget  the  external  factors  and  historical 
influences  which  were  very  active  in  different  parts  of 
the  Sufi  world,  and  caused  many  divergences  and  differ- 
ences in  the  theoretical  formation  of  the  system.^ 

This  complexity  is  evident  even  in  the  treatment  of 
the  concept  of  Sufiism.  Nicholson  in  a  survey  of  the 
course  of  development  taken  by  Sufiism^  has  been  able 
to  gather  from  the  literary  sources  up  to  the  fifth  cen- 
tury of  the  Hijra,  seventy-eight  different  definitions  of 
the  concept  of  Sufiism  (tasawuf).  Even  this  does  not 
seem  to  exhaust  the  list  of  definitions  of  a  scholar  of 
Nisabiir  Abii  Mansur  'Abdal-Kahir  al-Baghdadi  (d. 
429/1037)  who  taught  in  Baghdad  and  whose  writings 
concern  themselves  especially  with  the  internal  dogmatic 
ramifications  of  Islam.  He  gathered  from  the  writ- 
ings of  the  authorities  on  Sufiism  in  alphabetical  order, 
about  a  thousand  definitions  of  the  terms  of  Siifi  and 
Tasawwuf.^  This  differentiation  in  the  fundamental 
conception  naturally  corresponds  to  differences  in  detail.* 

In  the  various  Siifi  ramifications,  various  theories 
deviating  from  each  other  have  appeared,  according  to 
the  teachings  of  the  founders  who  were  regarded  as  the 
masters.  Even  the  ascetic  practices  and  customs,  in 
which  the  practical  side  of  Siifi  life  is  manifested,  show 
many  formal  differences.  The  organization  of  the  mani- 
fold Siifi  brotherhoods  scattered  over  the  whole  Moslem 
territory  rests  on  a  variety  of  diverging  rules. 

Their  relation  toward  legal  Islam  shows  a  fundamental 
difference.  The  first  patriarch  of  the  Siifi  concept  of 
religion  had,  to  be  sure,  preferred  ^'the  works  of  the 
hearf  as  they  said,  to  the  formal  fulfilment  of  the 
Moslem  laws:  '^the  actions  performed  by  the  limbs,'* 
without  nevertheless,  calling  the  latter  worthless  or 
superfluous.  But  they  were  only  of  value  when  accom- 
panied by  the  former.  It  was  not  the  limbs  but  the  hearts 
which  were  to  be  recognized  as  the  organs  of  religious 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  179 

life.  In  this  connection  Sufiism  acquired  the  nomistic 
tendency,  which  claims  to  harmonize  with  formal  legal 
Islam,  but  at  the  same  time  finds  the  entelechy  of  legal 
life  in  the  intensifying  of  formal  observances.^  On  the 
other  hand,  there  were  those  who,  without  denying  the 
relative  worth  of  legal  formality,  saw  in  the  legalistic 
externalities  symbolical  metaphors  and  allegories.  Still 
others  made  themselves  absolutely  free  from  the  forms 
of  Islam.  The  chains  of  the  law  do  not  bind  those  who 
understand.  In  fact,  not  only  single  members,  but  whole 
dervish  orders  (such  as  the  Bektashi  monastery)  are 
reported  to  have  been  absolutely  unscrupulous  with 
regard  to  the  legal  norms  of  Islam.^  Nor  are  there  those 
lacking  who  not  only  apply  this  freedom  to  the  laws  of 
ritual,  but  hold  that  all  laws  of  conventional  morality 
and  of  social  custom  are  not  binding  for  the  Sufi.  In 
fact  they  regard  themselves  as  ^^ beyond  good  and  evil.'' 
They  have  as  examples  the  Indian  Yogis^  and  Christian 
Gnostics^:  an  analogy  in  occidental  mysticism,  as,  for 
example,  among  the  Amalrikites  with  their  libertine 
principles  of  life,  which  in  common  with  the  Islamic 
Sufis  they  deduced  from  their  pantheistic  concept  of  the 
world.  As  the  world  of  phenomena  possesses  no  reality 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Sufis  they  strongly  deny  all  the  attri- 
butes of  this  untrue  apparent  existence.  To  the  de- 
mands of  this  life  which  is  without  substance,  they  are 
entirely  indifferent. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  their  relationship  to  law 
the  Sufis  have  been  divided  into  two  groups,  the  nomistic 
(with  law)  and  the  anomistic  (without  law).  This  dual- 
ism reminds  us  of  the  contrast  reported  by  Clement  of 
Alexandria  in  regard  to  the  ancient  gnostic  Hermeneu- 
tics  who  otfer  two  points  of  view  in  relation  to  law; 
some  preaching  a  life  of  freedom  and  indifference  to 
the  law  (aSta</)o/oa)?  ^yv),  others  exaggerating  abstemious- 
ness   and    pi'oclaiming    a    self-denying    life    {i^KpareLav 


180  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

KarayyeXovat) .^     The  same  is  true  of  the  differences  in 
the  Sufi  system. 

XII.  By  dervishes  are  meant  those  who  follow  the 
Sufi  manner  of  life.  They  cannot,  however,  all  be  classed 
under  one  head.  We  must  distinguish  between  the  earn- 
est representatives  of  the  love  of  God  and  ecstatic  exalta- 
tion, who  endeavor  to  perfect  their  souls  by  a  life  of 
self  denial  and  meditation ;  and  the  vagabond  dervishes 
who  in  an  independent  dissolute  beggar's  life  use 
SUfiism  to  cloak  their  idleness  and  to  delude  the  masses ; 
or  the  cloister  brothers  who,  shrinking  from  work,  use 
the  exterior  forms  of  the  Sufi  life  to  obtain  a  care-free 
and  independent  existence.^  They  too,  are  full  of  the 
love  of  God,  and  pretend  to  be  ^Svalking  on  the  way.'' 
But  earnest  Sufis  would  hardly  care  to  be  identified  with 
them. 

Tlie  dervish,  who  distributes  the  mysteries  of  the  world,  gives 
away  each  moment  a  whole  kingdom  without  recompense.  He 
is  not  a  dervish  who  begs  for  bread,  but  he  who  gives  up  his 
soul.^ 

The  true  dervish  is  not  the  vagabond  beggar  and  para- 
site. But  even  this  vagabondage  produces  many  a  speci- 
men of  an  ethical  view  of  the  world  of  interest  to  the 
historical  student  of  religion.  We  will  confine  ourselves 
here  to  a  single  group  of  these  three  orders  of  dervishes. 

There  are  the  so-called  maldmatiyya,  literally  '^the 
people  of  blame,"  an  appellation  given  not  only  to 
wandering  dervishes,  but  used  also  to  designate  the 
more  zealous  and  sedentary  Siifis,  on  account  of  the 
peculiarity  of  their  mode  of  life.  The  peculiarity  of 
these  people  who  have  rightly  been  compared  with  the 
cynics  of  Greek  philosophy,  consists  of  the  extreme  indif- 
ference to  external  appearances.  They  emphasize  the 
merits  of  offending  through  their  behavior,  and  drawing 
down  upon  themselves  the  disapproval  of  -^len.^     They 


i 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  181 

commit  the  most  shameless  deeds  simply  to  manifest 
their  principle,  ^^spernere  sperni.''  They  wish  to  be 
regarded  as  transgressors  of  the  law  even  in  case  they 
are  not  truly  such.  They  make  a  point  of  stirring  up 
the  scorn  of  men,  simply  in  order  to  show  indifference 
to  their  judgment.  In  doing  this  they  exaggerate  a 
generous  Sufi  rule  which  Jelal  al-din  Rumi  expresses  as 
follows : 

Forsake  thy  sect  and  become  an  object  of  disdain 

Cast  away  from  thyself  name  and  fame  and  seek  ill-will.'' 

They  are  scattered  over  the  whole  territory  of  Islam. 
Al-Kettani,  who  has  written  a  monograph  on  the  saints 
of  Fez,^  points  out  the  Malamite  character  of  many  of 
his  hearers.  The  best  type  of  the  Malamite  dervish  has 
been  furnished  by  Central  Asiatic  Islam  in  the  legend 
of  the  Sheikh  Meshreh,  ''oi  the  wise  fool  and  pious 
heretic.''^  Reitzenstein  has  recently  shown  that  these 
dervishes  possess  a  monastic  attribute  that  is  to  be  traced 
back  to  the  philosophy  of  the  cynics  according  to  which 
^'shamelessness  {avaiaxuvria)  is  a  religious  demand.''^ 

XIII.  Sufiism  very  early  took  root  in  Moslem  theo- 
logical literature  and  in  its  popular  expression  it  gained 
a  large  circle  of  Moslem  adherents.  In  its  quiet  way,  it 
became  a  powerful  movement  destined  to  have  a  lasting 
influence  on  the  conception  and  tendency  of  religion  in 
Islam.  Sufiism  became  a  factor  of  great  importance  in 
the  definite  formation  of  Mohammedan  religious  views 
and  thought. 

Let  us  first,  however,  consider  its  position  towards  the 
various  tendencies  within  Islam,  each  one  of  which  was 
endeavoring  to  maintain  its  identity. 

In  relationship  to  the  forms  and  dogmas  of  positive 
Islam  as  disclosed  by  the  legal  theologians  and  Mutakal- 
limiin,  Siifiism  appears  primarily  as  a  significant  spiri- 
tual liberation,  as  a  broadening  of  the  narrowed  religious 


182  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

sphere.  In  place  of  painstaking  blind  obedience  comes 
self-development  through  asceticism.  In  place  of  the 
subtleties  of  scholastic  syllogisms  comes  the  mystic  sub- 
mersion into  the  essence  of  the  soul,  and  its  liberation 
from  the  dross  of  materialism.  The  motive  of  the  Love 
of  God  becomes  the  guiding  motive  of  asceticism,  of 
^^kenosis''  and  of  perception.  Worship  of  God  is  re- 
garded as  a  cult  of  the  heart,  and  with  a  clear  knowledge 
of  the  contrast,  is  opposed  to  the  cult  of  the  body,  just 
as  the  book  of  knowledge  of  the  theologians  is  replaced 
by  knowledge  that  comes  through  the  heart,  and  specula- 
tion by  intuition.  Law  (shari^a)  is  a  pedagogical  starting 
point  on  the  Way  of  the  Sufi.  It  leads  to  the  high  path 
(tarika)  which  is  to  be  trod,  whose  cares  will  be  rewarded 
by  the  attainment  of  Truth  (hakika),  and  whose  final 
aim  is  not  even  reached  by  the  acquisition  of  Knowledge 
(ma^rifa).  Through  Knowledge  the  wanderer  is  now 
prepared  to  attain  Certainty  (41m  al-yakm).  Never- 
theless it  is  only  by  the  concentration  of  inner  intuition 
on  the  only  real  existence  that  he  can  raise  himself  to 
the  direct  conception  of  true  Certainty  (^ain  al-yakm). 
At  this  stage  the  dependence  of  the  disciple  on  tradition 
and  teaching  ceases  completely.  While  the  knowledge 
of  the  preceding  stages  (41m  al-yakm)  is  brought  to 
mankind  through  the  prophet,  divine  knowledge  of  the 
highest  stages  of  perfection  pour  into  the  soul  of  the 
contemplator  without  any  mediation.^  There  is  still 
another  stage  beyond  this,  the  highest,  hakk  al-yakin, 
the  Truth  of  Certainty  which  no  longer  lies  on  the  way 
of  the  Sufi  self -instruction. 

Fundamentally  this  path  of  development  leads  to  the 
recognition  of  indifference,  of  mere  confessionalism  to 
holy  truth  which  should  be  one's  aim. 

^  *  I  am  neither  Christian  nor  Jew  nor  Moslem. '  '^ 
The  difference  between  churches,  between  formulas  of 
belief  and  religious  practices  loses  all  significance  in  the 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  183 

soul  of  him  who  is  seeking  union  with  the  divinity. 
Everything  is  to  him  a  cloak  hiding  the  essence,  a  cloak 
which  he  must  strip  off  when  he  has  penetrated  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  one  reality.  However  much  they  may 
allege  that  they  hold  Islam  in  high  estimation,  the  tend- 
ency to  wipe  out  the  dividing  lines  of  all  faiths  is  com- 
mon to  most  of  the  Sufis.  These  faiths  have  the  same 
relative  value  for  obtaining  their  highest  goal,  and  the 
same  worthlessness  if  they  fail  to  arouse  the  Love  of 
God.  The  latter  is  the  only  standard  for  the  valuation 
of  religions.  There  are  utterances  to  the  effect  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  unity  of  God  affords  mankind  a  unifying 
element  while  laws  bring  about  division.^ 

Jelal  al-din  Rumi  gives  expression  to  the  following 
sentiment  in  a  revelation  of  God  to  Moses. 

The  lovers  of  rites  form  one  class,  and  those  whose  hearts 
and  souls  glow  with  love  form  another.* 

And  Muhyi  al-din  Ibn  'Arabi: 

There  was  a  time,  when  I  blamed  my  companion  if  his  religion 
did  not  resemble  mine ; 

Now,  however,  my  heart  accepts  every  form:  it  is  a  pasture 
ground  for  gazelles,  a  cloister  for  monks, 

A  temple  for  idols  and  a  Ka'ba  for  the  pilgrim,  the  tables  of 
the  Torah  and  the  sacred  books  of  the  Koran. 

Love  alone  is  my  religion  and  wherever  their  beasts  of  burden 
go,  there  is  my  religion  and  my  faith.^ 

And  again  Jelal  al-din: 

If  the  picture  of  our  Beloved  is  in  a  heathen  temple  it  is  an 
absolute  error  to  encircle  the  Ka'ba:  if  the  Ka'ba  is  deprived 
of  its  sweet  smell,  it  is  a  synagogue :  and  if  in  the  synagogue  we 
feel  the  sweet  smell  of  union  with  him  it  is  our  Ka'ba.^ 

As  we  see,  Islam  is  not  left  out  of  this  indifference 
toward  creed.    Tilimsani,  a  pupil  of  Ibn  ^Arabi,  is  said 


I. 

j 


184  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

to  have  remarked  boldly,  ^^The  Koran  is  absolutely 
shirk  (see  above  page  48).  Acknowledgment  of  unity  is 
merely  in  our  (that  is  Sufic)  speech.''^ 

"Within  these  manifestations  of  indifference  towards 
the  attributes  of  creed  in  relation  to  the  one  aim  to  which 
religion  should  lead,  there  appears  side  by  side  with  the 
tendency  toward  the  greatest  tolerance  ('^The  roads  to 
God  are  as  many  as  the  number  of  the  souls  of  men'^^) 
a  glimpse  of  the  destructive,  retarding  character  of 
verbal  creeds.  They  are,  it  is  held,  not  sources  of  truth. 
Truth  is  not  to  be  fathomed  by  the  strife  between  the 
various  creeds. 

Never  blame  the  seventy-two  sects  for  their  quarrels, 
Because  they  saw  not  truth,  they  knocked  at  the  gates  of 
fiction  (Hafiz).^ 

The  conviction  expressed  by  the  mystic  Abu  Sa^id  abu-1- 
Kheir,  the  friend  of  the  philosopher  Avicenna,  is  not 
unusual : 

As  long  as  mosques  and  medresas  are  not  completely  laid 
waste,  the  work  of  the  Kalenders  (dervishes)  will  not  be 
complete. 

As  long  as  belief  and  unbelief  are  not  exactly  alike,  no  single 
man  will  be  a  true  Moslem.^*^ 

In  such  ideas  as  this,  the  Sufis  agreed  with  the  Moslem 
free-thinkers,  who  attained  the  very  same  results  by 
different  means. ^^ 

The  true  Sufi  is  antagonized  even  more  by  the  dogma 
of  Kalam  than  by  the  law  taken  as  an  aim  in  itself,  since 
the  latter  can  at  least  be  of  some  value  as  a  means  to 
asceticism.  This  dogma  claims  a  knowledge  of  God  based 
on  speculation.  This  knowledge  is  not  learning,  and  is 
not  reached  through  books  nor  through  studies.  Jelal 
al-din  supports  his  view  by  the  words  of  Mohammed 
(Sura  102),  when  he  says: 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  185 

Discover  in  your  heart  the  knowledge  of  the  prophets 
Without  book,  without  teacher,  without  instructor/- 

They  are  opposed  to  the  usual  theological  book  learn- 
ing. They  have  no  sympathy  with  the  ^Ulama  and  the 
Hadith  searchers.  These — so  they  say — simply  perplex 
our  times.^^ 

Of  what  use  for  the  knowledge  of  truth  are  the  proofs 
so  commonly  offered  by  the  dogmatists,  proofs  upon 
which  many  of  them  make  even  faith  depend? 

*^He  who  bases  his  belief  upon  proof/'  says  Ibn 
*Arabi,  ^^his  belief  is  not  to  be  relied  upon,  for  his 
belief  is  based  on  speculation  and  is  therefore  open  to 
objection.  Quite  different  is  intuitive  belief,  whose  seat 
is  in  the  heart,  and  cannot  be  overthrown.  All  knowledge 
which  depends  upon  reflection  and  speculation  is  not 
safe  from  doubt  and  disturbance. '  '^*  ^  *  In  the  assemblage 
of  those  gathered  together  in  love  a  different  procedure 
is  customary,  and  the  wine  of  love  intoxicates  in  a  differ- 
ent manner.  The  knowledge  which  is  obtained  in  the 
Medresa  is  one  thing,  love  is  still  another.  "^^  The 
tarika  does  not  lead  through  the  '^  dizzy  mountain  paths 
of  dialectic,''  nor  through  the  narrow  passes  of  syllo- 
gism, and  the  yahin  (certainty)  is  not  to  be  obtained  by 
means  of  the  subtle  conclusions  of  the  Mutakallimun. 
Knowledge  arises  from  the  depths  of  the  heart,  and  the 
way  to  it  is  in  introspection  of  the  soul.  ^^The  Sufis," 
says  Kusheiri,  ^^are  people  of  union  with  God  (al-wisal), 
not  people  of  demonstration  (al-istidlal),  like  the  general 
run  of  theologians."^^  Even  before  this  an  older  mystic 
had  gone  so  far  as  to  say,  ^'When  truth  is  revealed, 
reason  (^akl)  withdraws.  This  is  the  instrument  for  the 
fulfillment  of  the  dependency  of  man  upon  God  (^Ubu- 
diyya),  but  not  the  instrument  for  the  comprehension  of 
the  true  essence  of  the  divine  rule."^''' 

This,  then,  is  a  direct  denial  of  the  teachings  of  the 


186  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Kalamites  with  their  apotheosis  of  reason.^^  How 
distasteful  must  the  subtleties  over  the  measure  of  indi- 
vidual liberty  have  appeared  to  those  living  in  the  Infin- 
ite, to  whom  a  single  act  of  the  will  appears  as  a  drop 
in  the  sea  of  the  world,  a  mote  in  the  sunlight  of  the 
absolute  will  of  God!  The  man,  who  denying  himself, 
parts  with  all  initiative  cannot  readily  hear  of  will  and 
self-determination.  And  how  small  must  have  appeared 
to  them  the  quarrels  over  the  positive  attribute  of  being, 
which  they  could  only  grasp  negatively,  if  at  all?  We 
therefore  sometimes  come  across  the  great  mystics  in 
theological  camps,  who — from  different  viewpoints  to  be 
sure — strictly  reject  Kalam:  Among  these  are  ^Abd  al- 
Kadir  Jilani  and  Abu  Ismail  Al-Herewi  (author  of  the 
manual  on  Sufiism,  d.  481/1088),  under  the  Hanbalites, 
Euweim  and  Ibn  ^Arabi  among  the  allied  Zahirites.^^ 

The  ideals  of  life  for  a  Moslem  were  also  presented  in 
a  different  manner,  varying  from  that  of  the  dominant 
faction,  and  it  is  with  these  ideals  that  the  Sufis  influence 
the  masses.  They  turn  from  the  powerful  figures  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  faith  (the  ancient  martyrs  are  to  be 
found  only  among  the  warriors),  to  the  wan  figures  of 
the  hermits,  penitents  and  cloistered  monks.  Even  the 
ideal  figures  of  earlier  times  are  made  to  don  the  attri- 
butes of  new  heroes;  it  is  as  if  their  swords  were 
unbuckled  and  they  were  forced  into  the  Sufi  cowl.^^ 

XIV.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  the  theologians  by 
profession  were  not  favorably  disposed  towards  the 
Sufis.  Many  are  the  ironical  remarks  applied  to  the 
coarse  woollen  clothing  (suf)  whose  use  gave  the  Sufis 
their  name.^  The  philologist  Al-Asma^i  (d.  216/831) 
relates  of  a  contemporary  theologian  that  someone 
spoke  in  his  presence  of  the  people  who  went  around  in 
coarse  penitential  garb.  *^I  did  not  know  until  now," 
remarked  the  theologian,  ^'that  dirt  belongs  to  reli- 
gion.''^   It  is  easily  conceivable  from  the  nature  of  the 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  187 

thing  that  their  teachings  and  perhaps  also  their  reli- 
gious conduct,  their  indifference  towards  the  positive 
laws  of  Islam— which  frequently  goes  so  far  as  to  deny 
all  observances^ — brought  down  upon  them  heavy  attacks 
from  the  adherents  of  the  current  theology.  They  gave 
good  cause  for  being  regarded  by  the  school  of  theolo- 
gians as  Zindiks,  a  name  which  serves  as  an  ample  cloak 
for  all  kinds  of  free-thinkers,  not  following  the  path 
trodden  by  the  School.  These  Sufis  spoke  a  language 
which  must  have  struck  the  usual  theologian  as  quite 
strange.  Abu  Sa'id  Kharraz  was  accused  of  disbelief,  on 
account  of  the  following  sentence  found  in  one  of  his 
books,  ' '  The  man  who  turns  back  to  God,  clings  to  him, 
remains  near  to  God,  forgets  himself  and  everything 
which  is  outside  of  God :  if  you  ask  him  whence  he  came 
and  where  he  wishes  to  go,  he  can  answer  nothing  but: 
^ Allah.'  ''^  If  such  a  sentence  appeared  doubtful,  how 
much  more  must  the  utterances  about  fana  and  baka, 
self-annihilation  and  union  with  the  Godhead,  about 
divine  intoxication,  about  the  worthlessness  of  the  law, 
etc.,  have  wrinkled  the  brow  of  the  theologians!  And 
how  much  more  the  practices  of  the  Sufis,  to  which  in 
the  earliest  times  belongs  the  mystical  dance !  When  at 
the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  the  gloomy  spirit  of  ortho- 
doxy ruled  in  Baghdad,  many  a  famous  Sufi  was  sub- 
jected to  torture.^  The  utterance  of  one  of  the  most 
famous  Sufis  of  the  old  school,  al-Juneid  (d.  297/909)  is 
characteristic  of  the  times,  ^^no  man  has  reached  the 
rung  of  truth,  as  long  as  a  thousand  friends  do  not 
declare  him  a  heretic."^  And  if  one  or  another  Sufi 
ventured  to  draw  the  consequences  of  the  union  with  the 
Divine  too  strictly,  he  ran  the  risk  as  in  the  case  of 
al-Hallaj  and  Shalmaghani,  of  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  executioner. 

XV.     When    we    investigate    the    relation    between 
Sufiism  and  official  Islam,  there  are  two  special  phe- 


188  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

nomena  which  engage  our  attention.  Both  signify  a 
mediation  between  salient  contrasts:  one  on  the  part 
of  the  Sufi,  the  other  on  the  part  of  the  orthodox. 

\      The  first  shows  us,  that  Sufis  too,  on  their  side,  felt 
the  need  of  reconciling  the  opposition  to  Moslem  law, 

'  even  if  only  externally,  so  that  Sufiism  should  not  appear 
from  the  start,  as  a  negation  of  Islam.  The  anti-nomistic 
tendency  prevailing  in  Sufiism  aroused  great  displeasure 
even  in  many  less  radical  Siifi  circles.  Earnest  adher- 
ents of  the  latter  bemoaned  the  contempt  and  disregard 
of  Moslem  law  and  declared  these  conditions  to  betoken 
the  decay  of  Siifiism.^  The  tarika  and  hakika  (above 
page  182)  presupposed  the  law.  Without  this  the  Sufi 
"Way''  is  meaningless;  it  is  the  gate  that  leads  to  the 
latter.  "Enter  the  houses  through  their  gate"  (Sura  2, 
V.  185). 

The  most  important  proof  of  this  reaction  within 
Sufiism  is  to  be  found  in  a  "Missive"  (risala),  which 
the  great  Sufi  sheikh  ^Abd  al-Karim  ibn  Hawazin  al- 
Kusheiri  issued  in  the  year  437/1045  to  the  Siifi  com- 
munities in  all  countries  of  Islam.  We  must  not  suppose 
this  to  be  a  pastoral  letter.  This  "missive,"  is  a 
voluminous  book,  which  in  its  Cairo  edition  (1304)  fills 
no  less  than  244  printed  pages.  Its  contents  delineate 
the  character  of  the  most  famous  Siifi  authorities  and 
give  specimens  of  their  maxims,  closing  with  a  compen- 
dium of  the  most  important  Siifi  teachings.  The  whole 
work  shows  the  tendency  to  represent  the  harmony 
between  law  and  Sufiism,  and  to  point  out  that  the  true 
authorities  of  this  doctrine  did  not  approve  of  the 
opposition  towards  current  Islam,  and  that  according  to 
this,  the  true  Siifi  must  be  a  true  Moslem  in  the  tradi- 
tional sense.  The  need  for  such  a  work  elucidates  the 
glaring  contradiction  which  had  developed  in  the  eleventh 
century  between  the  two  currents.  Says  Kusheiri  to  his 
companions : 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  189 

Know  that  those  of  our  community  who  know  the  truth,  have 
mostly   disappeared,   only  their   trace  has  remained  with  us. 
A  paralysis  has  entered  our   "Way";    one  could  even  say  that 
the  ''Way"  has  completely  disappeared,  for  we  have  no  sheikhs 
as  examples,  and  no  successors  could  allow  themselves  to  be 
guided  by  such  examples.     Gone  is  renunciation,  its  carpet  is 
rolled  up,  in  its  place  worldly  desires  have  gained  the  upper 
hand.     Hearts  have  lost  respect  for  religious  law,  indeed  they 
regard  the  contempt  for  the  religious  ordinances  as  the  strongest 
bond  of  union.     They  cast  aside  the  distinction  between  per- 
mitted and  forbidden,    .    .    .    care  little  for  the  fulfilment  of 
religious  duties,  of  fast,  of  prayers;    they  are  running  on  the 
race-course  of  neglect  .   .   .     Not  satisfied  with  that,  they  appeal 
to  the  highest  truths  and  states,  and  pretend  to  have  attained 
freedom  from  the  bonds  and  chains  (of  the  law)  through  the 
truths  of  the  union   (with  God)    (see  above  page  168).     The 
truths  of  the  unity  of  existence  they  say  have  been  revealed  to 
them,  therefore  the  laws  of  the  body  are  not  binding  upon  them. 

It  was  to  prevent  this  state  of  affairs  that  Kusheiri 
wrote  his  book,  which  made  such  an  impression  on  the 
Sufi  world,  and  helped  to  restore  the  almost  broken  links 
between  orthodoxy  and  Sufiism. 

XVI.     The  second  phenomenon  to  which  we  wish  to 
direct  attention  is  one  of  the  epoch-making  facts  in  the 
history  of  Moslem  theology.    It  appeared  not  long  after 
Kusheiri's  work,  and  presents  the  complement  of  his 
effort.    While  he  was  bringing  about  a  reaction  of  posi- 
tive legalism  against  the  nihilism  of  the  mystics,  legal 
Islam  was  being  permeated  by  mystical  views.    This  per- 
meation is  due  to  the  influence  of  one  of  the  greatest 
Moslem    scholars,    Abu   Hamid   Muhammed    al-Ghazali 
(d.  505/1111),  the  Abuhamet  or  Algazel  of  the  scholastics 
of  the  Middle  Ages.     This  man  influenced  to  a  most 
powerful  degree  the  Moslem  religion  as  it  existed  in  his 
time.    The  Moslem  view  of  religion  had  been  stifled  by 
the  casuistic  quibbling  of  its  legal  activity,  and  the  schol- 


190  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

astic  subtleties  of  its  dogmatics.  Al-Ghazali  himself  was 
a  famous  teacher  in  both  branches.  As  one  of  the  orna- 
ments of  the  Nizam  University  just  founded  in  Baghdad 
(see  above  page  127),  his  legal  writings  belong  to 
the  fundamental  works  of  the  Shafi'ite  School.  In  1095 
he  solved  the  crisis  in  his  own  life  by  renouncing 
all  scientific  success  and  all  personal  honors,  which 
came  to  him  through  his  brilliant  position  as  instructor, 
withdrawing  to  a  contemplative  life,  and  to  solitary 
self-examination,  in  the  secluded  cells  of  the  mosques 
of  Damascus  and  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  test  the  current 
tendency  of  the  religious  spirit,  from  which  he  had 
outwardly  separated  himself  by  his  flight  from  the 
world.  The  results  of  his  renunciation  of  tendencies  in 
which  he  saw  dangers  for  the  goal  of  religion  both  in 
investigation  and  in  life,  are  to  be  seen  in  a  series  of 
systematic  works,  and  smaller  tracts.  In  the  former,  in 
contrast  to  the  verbose  methods  of  the  self-sufficient 
theologians,  he  presents  in  well-organized  form,  the 
method  urged  by  him  for  the  construction  of  a  Moslem 
science.  In  the  latter  he  advances  in  an  effective  manner, 
isolated  views  of  his  own  thoughts  on  religion. 

He  saw  these  dangers  especially  in  two  aspects  of 
theology.  According  to  his  convictions  the  arch  enemies 
of  inner  religious  activity  were  the  subtleties  of  dog- 
matic dialectics  and  the  hair-splitting  of  religious 
casuistry,  which  flooded  the  territory  of  religious  science 
and  devastated  the  general  religious  spirit.  This  man 
who  had  followed  the  ways  of  philosophy  himself,  and 
could  never  quite  veil  the  influence  it  had  had  over  his 
theological  training,^  remorselessly  declared  war  against 
it,  in  a  work  famous  in  the  philosophical  literature  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  ''Destructio  Philosophorum,''  directed 
against  the  peripatetic  philosophy  of  Avicenna,  in  which 
he  had  laid  his  finger  on  its  defects  and  contradictions. 
In  the  same  way  he  now  refers  to  the  hair-splitting  of 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  191 

Kalam  dogmatism  as  a  fruitless  dissipation  of  the  mind, 
which  hinders  and  harms  the  purity  and  directness  of 
religious  thought  and  feeling,  far  more  than  it  helps 
them.  This  is  especially  the  case  when,  according  to  the 
claims  of  Mutakillimun,  they  are  carried  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  School  into  the  circles  of  the  common  people, 
in  which  they  can  only  cause  perplexity. 

Even  more  vigorous  is  his  attack  upon  the  Fildi  adher- 
ents and  their  juridical  casuistry.  Here  also  he  can  refer 
to  his  own  experiences.  He  had  fled  from  a  celebrated 
position  of  a  professor  of  law  at  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant Moslem  universities,  to  the  solitude  of  a  hermit's 
cell,  and  had  himself  won  fame  and  recognition  through 
the  literature  of  the  discipline  which  he  was  now  attack- 
ing. He  justified  these  investigations  as  part  of  the 
secular  life,  but  protested  vehemently  against  mingling 
legal  casuistry  with  the  affairs  of  religion.  There  is 
nothing  more  profane,  nothing  closer  to  the  claims  of 
worldliness,  than  this  fear  of  studies,  trumpeted  as  so 
superlatively  holy  by  its  haughty  representatives. 
Blessedness  is  not  attained  by  searching  the  canonical 
civil  law,  by  studying  purchase-deeds  and  inheritance 
negotiations,  and  all  those  subtleties  which  in  the  course 
of  centuries  had  been  attached  to  these  studies.  The 
religious  dignity  with  which  such  speculation  had  been 
invested  proved  rather  to  be  the  means  of  the  moral 
corruption  of  those  who  saw  in  them  the  most  important 
elements  of  theology.  They  encourage  the  empty  conceit 
and  worldly  ambition  of  such  people.  It  is  especially  the 
petty  investigations  and  disputes  over  the  ritualistic 
differences  of  the  Madahib  (see  above  page  62),  which  he 
sharply  condemns  as  a  vain  occupation  fatal  to  the  reli- 
gious spirit.2  ' '  Ghazali,  disapproving  of  the  dialectic  and 
casuistic  methods  used  by  the  dogmatists  and  ritualists, 
would  replace  it  by  the  religion  of  inner  personal  experi- 
ence.   For  him  the  core  of  religious  life  lies  in  training 


192  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

oneself  for  the  intuitive  life  of  the  soul,  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  dependence  of  man."  Here  the  Love 
of  God  is  to  be  the  central  motive.  As  Ghazali  always 
undertakes  the  analysis  of  ethical  feelings  with  great 
skill,  he  furnishes  in  his  system  a  comprehensive  mono- 
graph on  this  motive  and  goal  of  religion,  and  points  out 
the  way  to  attain  it. 

Through  these  teachings  Ghazali  rescued  Sufiism  from 
its  isolated  position  in  the  current  conception  of  religion 
and  made  it  a  normal  element  of  Moslem  belief.  By 
introducing  some  of  the  Sufi's  mysticism,  he  wished  to 
spiritualize  the  ossified  formalism  of  the  ruling  theology. 
His  activity  in  this  respect  brings  him  within  the  range 
of  this  chapter.  Ghazali  had  himself  mingled  with  the 
Sufis  and  followed  their  manner  of  life.  But  he  sepa- 
rated himself  from  them,  through  his  rejection  of  their 
pantheistic  aim  and  their  contempt  of  the  law.  He  did 
not  desert  the  fundamentals  of  positive  Islam,  he  only 
wished  to  ennoble  and  deepen  the  spirit  in  which  its 
speeches  and  its  laws  operate  on  the  life  of  the  Moslem, 
and  to  bring  it  nearer  the  goal  which  he  set  for  religious 
life.  He  teaches :  ^  ^  That  it  is  the  heart  through  which 
one  strives  to  come  nearer  to  Allah,  not  the  body.  By 
heart  I  do  not  mean  the  piece  of  flesh  comprehended  by 
the  senses,  but  something  which  belongs  to  divine  mys- 
teries, and  cannot  be  comprehended  by  the  senses.''^  It 
is  in  this  spirit  that  he  treats  the  fulfillment  of  the  law 
in  the  great  systematic  work,  to  which  he  gave  the  proud 
title  of  ^  ^  Revival  of  the  Sciences  of  Religion, ' '  convinced 
that  it  marked  a  reformation  and  was  destined  to  put  new 
life  into  the  withered  frame  of  the  ruling  Moslem 
theology. 

Like  many  reformers  he  endeavors,  not  to  give  the 
impression  of  founding  something  new,  but  rather  to 
restore  the  old  teachings  which  had  been  falsified  by 
later  corruption.     Longingly  he  looks  back  to  Islam's 


S. 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  193 

early  days  and  the  life  of  direct  faith.  He  habitually 
finds  support  for  his  objections  in  the  lives  of  the  Com- 
panions. Thus  he  kept  intact  the  feeling  for  the 
^^Sunna.''  Among  the  Companions,  religion  was  not 
nourished  by  scholastic  wisdom  and  idle  juridical  specu- 
lation. He  wished  to  free  the  people  from  the  harmful 
entanglement  into  which  the  religious  spirit  had  been 
drawn,  and  to  restore  the  ennobling  influence  of  the  law 
whose  true  aim  had  been  neglected. 

In  place  of  the  silent,  impotent  opposition  to  rigid 
formalism,  cherished  by  pious  Sufis  and  their  devoted 
followers,  aloof  from  the  main  body  of  orthodoxy,  we 
now  find  Ghazali  as  a  recognized  authority,  voicing  the 
protest  of  orthodoxy  against  the  corruption  of  Islam, 
through  the  activities  of  its  Kalam  and  Fikh  authorities. 
The  recognition  which  Ghazali  enjoyed  as  an  orthodox 
teacher  in  Moslem  circles,  furthered  the  success  of  his 
efforts.  Only  here  and  there  do  we  hear  a  voice  of 
opposition  from  theologians,  menaced  in  their  highest 
religious  dignity,  protesting  against  the  actions  of  the 
teacher  so  highly  respected  on  all  sides.  In  Spain  the 
*^ Revival'^  was  burned  by  a  certain  group  of  Fakihs,  who 
could  not  forget  their  humiliation.  But  this  was  only  a 
temporary  and  ultimately  ineffectual  opposition,  which 
even  in  Spain  itself  was  not  everywhere  countenanced.^ 
Such  desperate  attempts  at  self-defence  could  not  pre- 
vent the  body  of  Moslem  orthodoxy  from  inscribing,  soon 
after,  the  teachings  of  Ghazali  on  its  banner.  His  per- 
son was  accorded  the  nimbus  of  sanctity,  the  recogni- 
tion of  succeeding  generations  gave  him  the  title  of 
''The  regenerator  of  religion,"^  a  renovator,  whom  Allah 
had  sent  to  counteract  the  decay  of  Islam  at  the  time 
that  it  passed  from  the  fifth  to  the  sixth  century  of  its 
existence.  The  ''EevivaP'  was  recognized  as  the  book 
on  Moslem  science  of  religion,  embracing  all  religious 
science  and  regarded  almost  as  a  Koran.^     Orthodox 


194  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Islam  holds  Ghazali  as  the  final  authority.  His  name 
counts  as  a  war-cry  in  the  fight  against  tendencies  hostile 
to  Ijma^  His  work  is  one  of  the  most  significant  mile- 
stones in  the  history  of  the  formation  of  Islam.*^ 

XVII.  If,  then,  we  are  to  regard  the  Moslem  Ghazali 
as  the  regenerator  of  Islam,  we  must  here  turn  for  a 
moment  from  the  universal  religious  sentiment  which 
he  held,  and  by  means  of  which  he  made  the  views  of 
Sufiism  factors  in  Moslem  religious  life,  and  consider  his 
contribution  to  a  special  phase  of  religious  thought. 

In  many  wise  teachings,  the  greatest  authorities  of 
ancient  Islam  decisively  oppose  the  hunt  for  heresy. 
They  indefatigably  reiterate  that  one  should  beware  of 
branding  anyone  who  regards  himself  as  belonging  to 
the  ahl  al-saldt  (those  who  take  part  in  Moslem  wor- 
ship)^ or  the  ahl  al-kibla  (those  who  turn  towards  the 
kibla  in  their  prayers,  and  therefore  acknowledge  them- 
selves as  belonging  to  the  faithful),^  as  an  unbeliever 
merely  because  of  deviating  opinions.  We  have  very 
useful  material  on  this  subject  in  the  work  of  Mukaddasi 
(about  985),^  a  geographical  writer  who  in  his  study  of 
the  Moslem  world  became  especially  interested  in 
religious  events. 

Moslem  dogmatics  cannot  be  compared  with  like 
factors  in  the  religious  life  of  any  Christian  church. 
It  is  not  councils  and  synods,  which  after  a  prolonged 
and  active  struggle,  determine  the  formulas  thenceforth 
to  be  considered  as  the  criterion  of  correct  faith.  There 
is  no  ecclesiastical  authority  to  fix  the  standard  of  ortho- 
doxy. There  is  no  exclusive,  authorised  exegesis  of  the 
sacred  text,  upon  which  to  found  content  and  method 
of  the  teachings  of  the  church.  The  consensus,  the  high- 
est authority  in  all  questions  of  religious  theory  and 
practice,  is  an  elastic  and  in  a  certain  sense  scarcely 
tangible  object,  and  even  this  consensus  is  variously 
defined.    In  dogmatic  questions  it  was  especially  difficult 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  195 

to  arrive  at  a  unanimous  decision  concerning  a  consensus 
to  be  regarded  as  absolute.  That  which  one  party  accepts 
as  a  consensus  is  far  from  being  regarded  as  such  by 
the  other. 

If  we  were  to  put  the  question  to  various  orthodox 
Moslem  authorities,  all  of  whom  are  recognized  as 
authoritative  teachers  in  the  religion  of  Mohammed — 
with  the  exception  of  unbending,  intolerant  partisans — as 
to  what  makes  a  man  an  unbelieving  heretic,  and  what  we 
are  to  understand  by  a  heretic,  we  should  receive  the 
most  contradictory  answers.  And  even  these  answers 
would  be  given  as  frankly  theoretical,  for  it  would  be 
regarded  as  cruel  to  commit  oneself  to  one  of  these 
definitions  for  life  and  death.  *^A  true  Kafir  is  virtu- 
ally excommunicated :  no  one  may  have  anything  to  do 
with  him :  no  one  may  eat  with  him :  any  marriage  con- 
tracted with  him  is  invalid:  he  must  be  shunned  and 
scorned :  no  one  may  pray  with  him,  when  he  steps  for- 
ward to  lead  the  prayer :  his  evidence  is  not  accepted  in  a 
trial :  he  cannot  serve  as  a  guardian  in  marriage :  when 
he  dies  no  prayer  for  the  dead  is  said  over  his  body.  Any 
man  into  whose  power  he  falls  must  make  three 
trials  to  convert  him,  as  though  he  were  an  apostate, 
if  these  attempts  fail,  he  is  to  be  condemned  to  death.  ^'-^ 

This  is  indeed  a  harsh  dictum.  In  practice,  however, 
scarcely  anyone,  a  mere  dwindling  handful  of  Hanbalite 
fanatics,  dreamed  of  actually  carrying  out  such  a  con- 
ception.^ In  reference  to  dogmatic  heresy,  the  assertion 
of  the  liberum  arbitrium,  according  to  which  man  him- 
self, not  God,  is  the  author  of  the  deeds  of  men,  Moham- 
med is  made  to  say:  ^*Its  adherents  are  the  Magi  (dual- 
ists) of  Islam."  According  to  the  spirit  of  this  opinion 
an  undeviatingly  severe  attitude  is  enjoined  against  them. 
Nor  are  theological  books  sparing  in  their  epithets  of 
hafir  and  fasiU  (malefactor),  against  men  who,  in  their 
dogmatic  views,  fall  away  from  the  broad  path  of  uni- 


196  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

versal  teaching.  In.  the  time  of  ancient  orthodoxy,  how- 
ever, people  were  socially  quite  unmolested,  indeed  they 
even  acted  as  highly  honored  teachers  of  the  law  and  of 
faith.^  They  were  scarcely  disturbed  at  all  on  account 
of  their  views,  unless  indeed  one  were  to  take  seriously 
the  scornful  shrug  of  orthodoxy,  or  to  take  the  occasional 
outbursts  of  their  adherents  as  a  criterion  for  the  general 
conditions. 

It  is  only  teachings  hostile  to  the  state  which  are  taken 
seriously,^  and  we  shall  find  within  the  Shiite  division, 
factors  related  to  politics  and  dogmatics.  In  the  realm 
of  belief  the  unfettered  development  of  dogma  is  very 
slightly  hampered.  This  is  the  reason  for  the  note- 
worthy phenomenon,  that  within  the  dogmatic  devel- 
opment of  Islam,  the  recognition  of  the  non-obligatory 
and  non-authoritative  character  of  certain  opinions 
are  markedly  emphasized.  Within  the  sphere  of 
divergent  opinion,  freakish  views  are  not  infrequent 
which  are  rather  to  be  regarded  as  semi-humorous 
ridicule  of  subtleties  brought  forward  in  a  serious  spirit, 
as  endeavoring  to  carry  the  exaggeration  of  dogmatic  ; 
niceties  ad  absurdum,  rather  than  as  serious  expressions 
of  opinion  within  the  scholastic  disputations  that  were- 
often  carried  to  an  extreme.  i 

Seldom,  and  only  in  especially  dangerous  cases  is  there 
any  disposition  to  apply  to  the  authors  of  such  erratic 
views    the    procedure    theoretically    applicable    to    the 
hdfir.  I 

XVIII.  The  spirit  of  tolerance,  however,  marks  only 
the  earlier  times  in  which  there  were  differences  of  opin- 
ions in  abundance,  and  at  which  time  the  war  over  con- 
flicting opinions  had  not  yet  kindled  into  party  factions. 
It  is  in  the  train  of  scholastically  cherished  dogmatism 
that  the  evil  spirit  of  intolerance  first  appears  on  both 
the  orthodox  and  the  rationalistic  side.^  !» 

In  the  reports   of  the  last  hours   of  Ash^ari,  it  is 

i 


ASCETICISM  AND  SUFIISM.  197 

recounted  among  other  things,  that  he  bade  Abu  *Ali  al 
Sarakhsi,  in  whose  house  in  Baghdad  he  was  dying,  to 
come  to  his  deathbed  and  with  failing  strength  whispered 
to  him  the  following  declaration,  ^*I  bear  witness  that 
I  considered  no  one  from  the  ahl  al-kibla  as  Kafir,  for 
they  all  direct  their  thoughts  to  the  same  object  of  wor- 
ship, that  in  which  they  differ  is  only  a  difference  in 
expression/'  According  to  another  account,  to  be  sure, 
his  last  word  was  a  curse  against  the  Mu^  tazilites.  I  am 
inclined  to  give  this  latter  report  the  preference.  The 
spirit  of  that  dogmatic  age  was  more  favorable  to  zeal- 
ous persecution  than  to  conciliatory  tolerance.  There  is  a 
substantial  basis  for  the  declaration  that  ^Hhe  worship 
of  the  Mutakallimun  consists  in  heresy  hunting. ''^  The 
activity  of  the  Mu^  tazilites  and  of  their  dogmatic  litera- 
ture as  set  forth  in  a  former  chapter  (Chapter  III) 
reveals  a  picture  that  is  in  accord  with  such  characteri- 
zation. The  epithets  kafir  and  heretic  are  constantly 
being  bandied  about  as  soon  as  any  divergent  opinion 
dares  to  manifest  itself. 

In  the  midst  of  this  hair-splitting  struggle  over  forms 
and  definitions  Sufiism  alone  breathes  a  tolerant  spirit. 
We  have  seen  that  it  aspires  to  do  away  with  confes- 
sionalism.  Ghazali  to  be  sure  did  not  go  as  far  as  that. 
His  writings,  however,  are  constantly  belittling  all  dog- 
matic formulas  and  hair-splittings  which  set  up  the 
claim  of  having  the  only  means  of  salvation.  His  dry, 
academic  speech  rises  to  the  heights  of  eloquent  pathos 
when  he  takes  the  field  against  such  claims.  He  has 
championed  the  cause  of  tolerance  in  a  special  work 
entitled  **  Criterion  of  the  Differences  between  Islam  and 
Heresy. ' '  In  it  he  declares  to  the  Moslem  world :  That 
harmony  in  the  fundamentals  of  religion  should  be  the 
basis  of  recognition  as  a  believer,  and  that  the  deviation 
in  dogmatic  and  ritualistic  peculiarities,  even  if  it 
extends  to  the  rejection  of  the  Caliphate  recognized  by 


198  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Sunni  Islam,  which  would  therefore  include  the  Shiite 
schism — should  offer  no  ground  for  heresy.  ^^  Check 
your  tongue  in  regard  to  people  who  turn  to  the  kibla.'^ 

That  he  recalls  this  ancient  teaching  to  the  minds  of 
his  fellow  believers,  that  he  took  it  up  in  earnest,  and 
enlisted  followers,  is  his  greatest  service  in  the  history 
of  Islam.^ 

He  did  not,  it  is  true,  as  we  have  set  forth,  bring  for- 
ward any  new  thought,  but  rather  advocated  a  return 
to  the  better  spirit  of  ancient  times.  Yet  it  was  he  who 
re-awakened  this  spirit  after  its  long  neglect,  and  en- 
riched it  with  the  views  engendered  in  him  by  his  Sufi- 
ism.  He  turns  away  from  theological  wrangling  and  self- 
satisfied  scholastic  philosophy,  and  wishes  to  guide  the 
souls  of  his  companions  to  the  spirituality  of  an  unifying 
faith,  to  a  cult  whose  altars  are  raised  in  the  heart.  This 
was  the  greatest  influence  which  Sufiism  had  over  the 
religious  life  of  Islam. 


NOTES.  199 


NOTES. 


I.  1.  Ibn  Sa'd  I,  I  145,  13. 

2.  Ibid.  Ill,  I  77. 

3.  Ibid.  158. 

4.  See   ''Die  Handwerke  bei  den  Arabern"    (Globus)  LXVI  No.  13. 

5.  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  117. 

6.  Nawawi,  TaMlh  217,  4;  also  Sa'id  Ibn  al-Musayyab  284,  4 
(fr.  below),  cf.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  305,  4  ff.  H.  Lammens  gives  char- 
acteristic examples  in  this  connection  from  other  points  of  view 
in  his  ''fitudes  sur  le  regne  du  calif e  Mo'awiyya  I  148;  152 
n,  5;  165  ff.;  177;  233  ff.  (Melanges  Beyrouth  II  40;  44; 
57  ff.;  69;  125  ff.)  Cf.  also  Mas'udi,  ''Prairies  d'or"  IV, 
254  ff. 

7.  "Annali  dell'  Islam"    II  399;    405;    543. 

8.  Ibid.  II  1080  ff. 

9.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  50,  27.  See  also  for  the  two-fold  motives  of  the 
hostile  movement  Noldeke's  review  of  Caetani's  Annali  WZKM 
XXI  305. 

10.  TaMtb  362,  6. 
II.  1.  Ibid.  519,  8.  The  Hadith  in  Bukhari  is  very  important.  Jihad 
no.  36,  where  the  prophet  expresses  his  apprehension  over  "the 
blessings  of  the  earth  and  the  joys  of  the  world,"  which  are 
to  be  the  lot  of  the  believer  after  the  prophet's  death,  and 
appeases  this  apprehension  with  the  hope  that  the  treasure  to 
be  gained  thereby  will  be  turned  to  pious  ends. 

2.  Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  I  166. 

3.  Ibid.  169,  8.  24.  Abu-1-Darda:  "He  who  possesses  two 
dirhems,  will  be  more  severely  judged  on  the  resurrection  day, 
than  he  who  can  call  but  one  dirhem  his  own"  (Ibn  Sa'd  VI 
200,  15). 

4.  Ibn  Kuteiba,  Uyun  al-dkJibar  375,  10. 

5.  Cf .  Ibn  Sa'  d  XI  125,  10  ff. 

6.  Ibid.  IV,  II  9  ff. — various  versions.  (This  rule  of  the  prophet 
is  in  different  accounts  directed  to  various  other  companions, 
e.  g.  'Othman  ibn  Maz'un,  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  287,  21,  to  'Abdallah 
ibn  'Omar,  "Muh.  Stud."  II,  396  note  1.)  The  stories  about 
the  son  of  'Amr  presuppose  the  Koran  already  existing  as  a 
collection;  'Abdallah  wishes  to  recite  the  whole  of  it  daily,  the 
prophet  considers  it  sufficient,  if  he  goes  through  the  whole 
book  each  month  or  at  the  most  in  ten  or  six  days.  For  exam- 
ples of  praiseworthy  mention,  that  pious  men  recite  the  whole 
Koran  in  5,  6  and  7  days,  see  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  49,  6;  58,  12;  60, 
24.  During  Eamadan  even  more  is  accomplished;  it  is  customary 
to  read  the  whole  of  the  Koran  in  two  nights.     The  assertion 


200  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Ibid.   IV,  II  11  Tilt.,  tliat  ^Abdallah  could  read  Syrian,  points, 
perhaps  to  the  Christian  influence   over  his  ascetic  inclinations. 

7.  Musnad  Ahmed  II  64,  Id  sdma  man  sdma  al-abada. 

8.  Mawerdi,  A'lara  al-nubuwwa    (Cairo  1319)    153. 

9.  Muh.  Studien  II  395. 

10,  Vsd  al-ghala  V  132,  7,  cf.  Ibn  Sa'd  lY,  II  17,  13.  For  the 
cause  and  context  of  this  utterance  see  the  Hadith  stories  given 
by  J.  Horovitz  in  "Spuren  griechisher  Mimen  im  Orient" 
(Berlin  1905)   78-9. 

11.  It  is  always  the  point  of  view  of  the  Sunna  which  is  emphasized 
in  recommending  matrimony.     Celibacy  is  opposed  to  Sunna.    The 
monastic  mode  of  life   (rahhaniyya) ,  comes  under  the  point  of 
view  of  hid' a  (see  Ch.  VI.),  Ibn  Sa'd  V  70,  6;    al-rahbaniyya 
al-muUada'a    (Ibn  Kuteiba,  'Vyun  al-aTchMr  375,   12   cf.  Muh. 
Stud.    II    23,    note    6).      The    celibate    ascetic    in    spite    of    his 
otherwise  legal  piety,  is  criticised  as  tdriTc  al-sunna  (he  who  for- 
sakes Sunna)    (Jaf'i;    Sand  al-rayahin,  Cairo  1297,  28,  8).     It  is 
all  the  more   striking  that   ^Abdallah   ibn   'Omar,   otherwise   an 
ideal  of  the  Sunna  faith,  originally  had  the  intention  of  lead- 
ing a   celibate  life    (Ibn   Sa'd  IV,  I   125,   19).     The   foUowing 
utterance  is  cited  by  Ibn  al- Jauzi  concerning  one  '  companion, '  Abu 
Berza,  to  be  sure  with  disapproval:     ''Even  if  I  were  but  one 
day  removed  from  the  end  of  my  life,  it  is  only  as  a  married 
man  that  I  should  wish  to  meet  Allah;    i.  e.    I  would  marry  even 
one  day  before  my  death  for  I  have  heard  the  prophet  say:    The 
worst    among    you    are    the    unmarried."      Such    utterances,    not 
formally  recognized  as  valid  by  the  critics  of  tradition,  but  con- 
sented to  so  far  as  the  contents  are  concerned,  form  the  basis 
for  the  opinion  that  celibates  are  not  considered  worthy  to  be 
leaders    (Imam)    in   the   canonical  liturgies.      (Kevue   du  Monde 
Musulman,  V  32,  9  fr.  below.)      It  is,  however,  to  be  observed 
that  in  the  system  of  Moslem  asceticism  the  denunciation  of  mar- 
ried life  is  always  excluded.      (Cf.  Lammens  Mo'dwiyya  165 — 
Melanges  Beyrouth  II   57  note  8,  collected  dates  and  examples 
from  sacred  legends  in   C.   Trumelet's    "L'Algerie  legendaire" 
(Algiers  1892),  436,  442.)     The  prayer  which  a  man,  famed  as 
an  ascetic,  makes   at   the   Ka'ba  is  very   characteristic   of   this. 
(Subki  TahaTcdt  al-SMfi'iyya  III  289,  18.)     Cf.  also  the  interesting 
facts  in  E.  Doutte's   "Les  Marabouts"    (Paris  1900)   84  ff.  and 
E.  Montet's    "Le  culte  des  saints  musulmans  dans  L'Afrique  du 
nord   et   plus    specialement   au   Maroc"     (Geneve    1909,   in   the 
Jubilee  publication  of  the  University  of  Geneva)  39,  66. 

12.  See  citations  in  my  essay:    "L'ascetisme  aux  premiers  temps  de 
1 'Islam"    (Kevue  de  THistoire  des  Kelig.  1898,  XXXVII,  314  ff.). 

13.  Muh.  Stud.  II  394. 

14.  Arab.  Mss.  Gotha  no.  1001,  Fol.  93. 


NOTES.  201 

15.  Ibn  Sa'  d  IV,  I  19,  15  ff .  a  very  characteristic  report. 

16.  See  on  this  subject:  ''Kevue  de  PHist.  des  Kelig."  XXVIII, 
381. 

17.  Number  31  of  the  ''Forty  Traditions"  of  Nawawi  is  the  follow- 
ing teaching  of  the  prophet:  A  man  came  to  him  with  the  ques- 
tion, ' '  Show  me  a  deed  for  which,  when  I  perform  it,  God  will  love 
me,  and  men  will  love  me."  "Eenounce  the  world  and  God  will 
love  you ;  renounce  that  which  is  in  the  hands  of  men,  and  men  will 
love  you. ' '  The  saying  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  more  careful  col- 
lections and  is  merely  attested  to  by  the  collections  of  Ibn 
Maja:  a  proof  of  the  fact  that  it  was  not  universally  recog- 
nized as  an  authentic  utterance  of  the  prophet. 

18.  Jahiz,  Tria  Opuscula  ed.  Van  Vloten  132  ff.  (''Easa'il"  ed. 
Cairo  1324,  125)  stresses  the  fact  that  the  prophet  was  not  of 
a  morose  nature,  but  constantly  showed  his  sense  of  humor.  Abu 
Zubeir  ibn  Bekkar  (d.  256/870)  published  a  monograph  on  the 
prophet's  jokes  (Fihrist  110,  6)  from  which  is  taken  the  quo- 
tation in  Kastallani,  Bukhan-commentary  IX  500,  8. 

19.  Cf .  Noldeke-Schwally,  ' '  Geschichte  des  Korans ' '  170,  note.  Very 
interesting  data  in  Ibn  Kayyim  al-Jauziyya,  Kitah  al-jawab  al- 
Mfi  (Cairo)    171. 

20.  It  is  not  without  a  purpose  that  e.  g.  in  the  reports  about  Ibn 
Sa'd  three  fuU  pages  are  devoted  (III,  I  133,  25  to  136,  5) 
exclusively  to  the  documentation  of  the  totally  indifferent  fact 
that  the  pious  caliph  was  wont  to  care  for  his  beard  with  cos- 
metics. (In  the  biographies  of  other  'companions'  also  this 
peculiarity  is  treated  in  full.)  The  purpose  intended  by  such 
notices  is  obvious  when  we  are  told  in  the  same  work  150,  21 
that:  "some  of  the  crazy  Koran  reciters  (i.  e.  pietists)  are  of 
the  opinion  that  the  dyeing  of  the  beard  is  forbidden."  Tra- 
ditions of  the  first  kind  are  accordingly  to  serve  in  a  great 
measure  as  an  overpowering  argument  against  those  bigots  regard- 
ing whose  own  conduct  examples  are  naturally  also  furnished, 
e.  g.  VI  201,  12;    231,  13. 

21.  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  II  103. 

22.  Ibid.  IV,  II  29,  10;    VI  17,  17  and  very  frequently. 

23.  Ibid.  V  85,  5. 

24.  Cf.  the  dissertation  Muh.  ibn.  al-Han.  by  Hubert  Banning 
(Erlangen  1909)  73  above;  concerning  hs  greed  for  money,  ibid. 
68,  by  the  gratification  of  which  he  wished  to  find  compensation 
for  the  demands  abandoned  by  him. 

III.  1.  They  are  generally  designated  as  Icurrd',  literally  as  (Koran) 
reciters.  Among  the  prophet's  associates  such  Tcurrd  are  men- 
tioned and  more  definitely  described  as  people  who,  during  the 
day  "obtained  water  and  collected  wood  for  the  prophet  (cf. 
Jos.  9,  21.  23.  27)  and  during  the  night  stood  before  the  pillars 


202  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

(ZDMG  LV  505)  and  prayed"  (Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  36  ult.  38,  8.  14). 
This  designation  is  also  generally  extended  to  people,  who,  scorn- 
ing all  worldly  interests  devote  themselves  to  pious  practices  and 
an  introspective  ascetic  life;  cf.  e.  g.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  255,  18. 
Dawud  al-Ta'i  did  not  resemble  in  his  clothes  the  Tcurrd  (it  is 
here  a  question  of  ascetics  in  general).  Free-thinking  or  worldly- 
minded  people  use  this  word  in  its  bad  sense  to  express  the  con- 
ception of  the  pietists  (above  p.  65).  The  verb  Tcara'a  Y,  and 
TaJcarra'a  with  the  elision  of  the  hamza  idkarrd  is  a  synonym 
of  tanassdka,  'one  who  gives  himself  up  to  the  ascetic  life.' 
(Kali,  Amdli  III  47  penult.)  When  the  great  philologist  Abu 
*Amr  ibn  al-'Ala  devoted  himself  to  asceticism,  he  burned  up  the 
gigantic  philological  material  which  he  had  collected  (Jahiz  in 
Abhandl.  zur  Arab.  Phil.  I  139,  9)  just  as  the  above-mentioned 
Dawud  al-Ta'i,  after  he  had  become  an  '  dhid,  would  have  noth- 
ing more  to  do  with  the  sciences  (even  of  the  Hadith),  in  which 
he  had  formerly  been  prominent.     (Ibn  Sa'd  1.  c.) 

2.  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  202,  18,  cf.  the  same  Abu  Isra'il  in  connection  with 
an  utterance  on  the  avoidance  of  superfluous  dress  in  prayer, 
ibid.  231,  15. 

3.  Ibid.  Ill,  6. 

4.  Ibid.  127,  22;  131,  14;  133,  11.  18.  25.  The  religious  motive  of 
his  antipathy  to  poetry  is  also  characteristic.  (Cf.  also  53,  17.) 
His  article  in  Ibn  Sa'  d  is  very  instructive  for  the  knowledge  of  the 
various  forms  that  the  ascetic  tendencies  of  the  time  assumed. 

5.  See  the  biographies  of  the  early  caliphs  and  companions  in  the 
Sufi  Tabakdt.  Among  them  'All,  especially,  is  an  example  of 
the  ascetic  life  not  only  for  the  characteristics  following  up 
such  tendencies,  but  also  for  the  popular  recollections.  (Cf. 
especially  Kali  Amcdi  II  149,  9  ff.)  Moreover,  even  apart  from 
the  special  purpose,  the  ascetic  embellishments  of  biographies 
are  far  from  rare.  The  picture  of  the  death  of  the  companion 
Mu'ad  ibn  Jebel  may  be  given  as  an  example.  It  was  he  whom 
Mohammed  commissioned  with  the  Islamizing  of  Yemen,  and  who 
fought  many  a  battle  by  the  side  of  the  prophet.  The  plague 
raging  in  Syria  snatched  away  many  of  the  members  of  his 
family,  and  finally  himself.  In  the  last  moment  of  his  life  he  is 
made  to  talk  on  the  love  of  God.  And  when  death  was  already 
upon  him,  the  following  words  are  put  into  his  mouth:  ''Wel- 
come, O  death!  Welcome  friendly  visitor  who  finds  me  in  pov- 
erty. O  my  God,  thou  knowest  I  have  always  feared  thee,  but 
to-day  I  hope  for  thee  longingly.  I  have  not  loved  the  world, 
nor  a  long  life  in  it  to  be  spent  in  digging  canals  and  planting 
trees,  but  in  order  to  thirst  in  the  mid-day  heat,  to  defy  mis- 
fortunes, to  participate  under  the  lead  of  the  'Ulama  in  the 
Ptfcr-gatherings.     (Nawawi  TaMil)  561.)     The  biographers  of  this 


NOTES.  203 

pious  tendency  are  fond  of  investing  the  warriors  of  Islam  with 
traits  which  supplement  their  bravery  and  heroism  with  the 
marks  of  ascetic  piety.  This  characterises  the  ascetic  literature 
up  to  the  latest  times.  Even  Nur  al-Din  and  Saladin  take 
the  highest  places  in  the  hierarchy  of  saints  (Yafi'i,  1.  c.  285 
above),  entitled  to  this  quite  as  much  as  Ali  who  already  at  an 
earlier  age  was  included  among  the  saints. 

6.  TJsd  al-GMha  III  88,  s.  v.  'Amir  ibn  'Abd  al-Kais. 

7.  See  my  Diwan  des  Hutei'a  218  (to  79,  7).  To  the  proofs  there 
given  I  now  add  those  verses  cited  by  Jahiz,  Hayawan  V  145, 
3,  VI  121  penult.  L.  Cheikho  treats  the  same  subject  in  his 
periodical  al-Mashrik  XI  (1908). 

8.  See  further  proofs  in  '^Eevue  de  I'Hist.  des  Eeligions"  XXVIII 
381. 

9.  An  example,  Maslirik  XII,  611,  7  fr.  bel.,  cf.  also  Munk,  ''Guide 
des  Egares"  II  304  no.  2 — athwab-al-siyaha  ''Monastic  garb"  in 
contrast  to  the  wild  garments  (Damiri,  Hay  at  al-hayawdn  II  165, 
1,  s.v.  'aTcrah).  Concerning  the  raven  as  the  bird  of  mourning, 
who  lives  among  ruins  and  has  black  feathers,  they  say  figura- 
tively in  this  sense  that  he  is  practicing  siyaha  (Journ.  As.  Soe. 
Bengal  1907,  176,  7  fr.  bel.). 

10.  "Notice  of  the  writings  of  .  .  .  al  Harith  .  .  .  al-Muhasibi, 
the  first  Sufi  Author, ' '  in  Transactions  of  the  Third  International 
Congress  for  the  History  of  Eeligions  (Oxford  1908)  I  292  ff. 

11.  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  208,  26. 

12.  It  is  reported  of  'Abdallah  ibn  Mas'ud,  one  of  the  most  pious 
companions  of  the  prophet,  that  he  refrained  from  all  super- 
fluous fasts  (not  commanded  by  strict  law),  and  gave  as  his 
reason  that  he  laid  more  stress  upon  prayer;  fasting  weakens  too 
much  and  can  easily  injure  prayer.  Ibn  Sa'd  ibid.  109,  25.  The 
same  'Abdallah  forbids  Mi' dad  and  his  companions  (above 
p.  159)  to  perform  their  ascetic  practices  in  the  cemetery.  Ibn 
Sa'd  VI  111  6. 

13.  Tabari  I  2924,  9 ;    Vsd  al-ghaha  V,  286. 

14.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  225,  4. 

15.  Tabarri,  MaTcdrim  al-aTchldlc  66. 

16.  For  a  fuller  account  see  my  treatise,  "Materialen  zur  entwick- 
lungsgeschichte  des  Sufismus"    WZKM  (1899)   XIII  35  ff. 

IV.  1.  This  simile  is  used  in  two  ways.  Apart  from  the  one  utilized 
in  the  text  (Subki,  Mu'id  al-ni' am  224,  4;  Yafi'i  1.  c.  315  ult. 
by  Sahl  al-Tustari)  it  is  applied  to  the  adept  and  his  master, 
likening  him  to  the  corpse  in  the  hand  of  the  washer,  i.  e.  the 
pupil  subjects  his  will  completely  to  that  of  the  Sheikh,  e.  g. 
'Abd  al-Karim  al  EazI  (pupil  of  Ghazali)  in  SubkT,  TahaMt  IV 
258  ult.  The  improbable  assumption  that  the  similar  expression 
in  the  constitution  of  the  Jesuit  order  (perinde  ac  cadaver)   has 


204  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

been  borrowed  from  the  rule  of  the  §ufi  brotherhood,  has  lately 
been  brought  forward  again  by  G.  Bonet-Maury  ''Les  confr6ries 
religieuses  dans  1 'Islamisme,  etc.''  in  the  transactions  of  the 
third  International  Congress  for  the  History  of  Eeligions  II  344; 
also  D.  B.  Macdonald  (in  his  work  to  be  mentioned  below  6, 
note  4)  considers  the  dependence  of  the  rule  of  the  Jesuit  order 
on  that  of  the  §ufi  brotherhood  as  an  assured  fact.  The  possi- 
bility of  an  influence  of  Moslem  Sufiism  on  Christian  mysticism 
is  now  admitted  also  by  Carra  de  Vaux  and  has  been  strengthened 
by  the  proof  of  certain  synchronisms.  (''La  Doctrine  de 
1 'Islam/'    247-8.) 

2.  Ghazali,  Ihya  IV  445. 

3.  Muhibbi,  Ehulasat  al-atJiar  III  148.  Sufyan  ibn  'XJyeyna 
teaches  "Thy  care  for  to-morrow's  nourishment  will  be  counted 
to  thee  as  a  sin."     (Dahabi  Tadkirat  al-huffds  III,  8.) 

4.  Kusheiri,  Bisdla  fl  'Urn  al-tasawwuf  (Cairo  1304)  243,  10  fr. 
bel.  'Abdalkadir  Jilani,  Ghunya  (Mecca  1314)  II  151;  Beha 
al-din  al-'Amili,  Keslikul  (Bulak  1288)  I  94. 

V.  1.  Dahabi,  Tadkira  IV  39. 

2.  One  of  the  oldest  of  the  ascetic  ideals  is  contained  in  a  long- 
drawn-out  apocryphal  exhortation  of  the  prophet  to  Usama 
ibn  Zeid,  which  has  come  down  in  two  versions  Suyuti,  al-La'- 
dll  al-masnu'a  fi-l-a1iddWi  al-maudu' a.  [A  similar  work  by  Ibn 
al-Jauzi  (Cairo  1317)  II  166-7.]  One  of  the  versions  is  also  given 
in  ITchwdn  al-safd  (Bombay  1306)  I,  II  98. 

3.  Eevue  de  I'Histoire  des  Eeligions  XL  177. 

4.  ISuf  is  the  clothing  of  the  poor  as  well  as  of  the  penitent  {'JJyun 
al-aTchhdr  317  penult.  352,  6) ;  Convicts  also  were  clothed  in 
Siif-garb  (Ibn  Sa'd  VIII  348,  21;  Aghdni  V  18,  20),  Abu  Musa 
al-Ash'ari  says  to  his  son,  ''If  thou  hadst  seen  us  in  company 
with  the  prophet  when  rain  overtook  us,  thou  wouldst  have  noticed 
a  smell  of  sheep  which  came  from  our  (damp)  §uf -garments. " 
This  is  intended  to  emphasize  the  ascetic  mode  of  life  in  the 
entourage  of  the  prophet.     (Ibn  Sa'd  IV,  I  80,  18.) 

5.  See  Noldeke  in  ZDMG  XLVIII  47. 

VI.  1.  Jelal  al-din  Eumi,  Quatrain,  The  quotations  here  used  are  taken 
from  the  Hungarian  translation  of  the  Buhd'iyydt  hazreti  mew- 
land  (Stambul  1312,  issued  by  the  Persian  journal  "Akhter") 
by  Professor  Alexander  Kegl  (Budapest  1907;  Abhandlung.  der 
Ungar.  Akad.  d.  Wiss.  I.  Kl.,  vol.  XIX,  no.  10). 

2.  Ibid. 

3.  Wujuduka  daribun  Id  yukdsu  MM  danbun  dlcharu  in  'Abdalkadir 
Jilani,  Sirr  al-asrdr  (A.  E.  of  the  Ghunya)  I  105. 

4.  Duncan  B.  Macdonald  has  lately  given  a  psychological  analysis  of 
the  §ufi  position  in  the  6th  and  7th  lectures   ("Saints  of  the 


NOTES.  205 

ascetic-ecstatic    life    in    Islam")     in    his     "Keligious    Attitude 
and  Life  in  Islam''    (Chicago  1909)   156-219. 

5.  Masnavi-i-ma' navi  translated  by  E.  H.  Whinfield  (London  1887) 
52. 

6.  Biwdni  S'hems-i-Te'bnzl  (ed.  Nicholson,  Cambridge  1898)  124. 

7.  Fend  ed-din  'Attar,  Tadkirat  al-auliyd  (ed.  Nicholson,  London — 
Leiden  1905-1907)  II  216,  8. 

8.  **Der  Diwan  des  .  .  .  Hafiz"  pub.  by  Kosenzweig-Schwannau 
(Vienna  1858-64)  I  324. 

9.  Oltramare,  ^'L'Histoire  des  idees  theosophiques  dans  I'Inde" 
I.  (Annales  du  Musee  Guimet,  Bibliotheque  d 'etudes,  T  XXIII) 
211  note  2. 

10.  Cf.  the  explanation  of  the  Shadeli  by  Yafi'i,  Baud  al-rayahln  289, 
(various  stages  of  divine  intoxication.) 

11.  Ghazali,  Iliya  IV  348,  3  TadJcirat  al-auliya  II  156,  9. 

12.  From  Jelal  al-din  Eumi'  (ace.  to  Kegl,  above  note  1). 

13.  The  Hanbalite  Ibn  Kayyim  al-Jauziyya  in  his  ethical  treatise 
Kitdh  al-jawdh  al-Mfl  li-man  sa' ala  'an  al-dawa  al-sMfi  (Cairo, 
Takaddum  Press)  141-147;  168-170  presents  the  conciliation  of 
the  love  of  God  as  the  highest  goal  of  Moslem  life  from  the 
orthodox  point  of  view,  it  is  true  not  without  a  hostile  intent 
toward  opposing  Sufiism. 

14.  Journal  Asiat.  1879  II  377  ff.  451. 

VII.  1.  One  of  the  earliest  works  of  this  kind  is  the  exegetical  book 
HaM'iTc  dl-tafsir  (True  Interpretation  of  the  Scriptures) 
Abii  Abd  al-Kahman  al-Sulami  from  Nisabur  (died  412/1021; 
Brockelmann,  '^Gesch  d.  Arab  Litt."  I  201).  ''He  brought  into 
if — says  an  orthodox  historian — ''unfortunate  thoughts  and  alle- 
gorical explanations  of  the  Bdtiniyya  (Dahabi  TadTcirat  al-huffaz. 
Ill  249).  From  this  Sulami,  who  also  fabricated  Hadiths  of  a 
Sufi  order  (Zeitsehr.  f.  Assyr.  XXII  318)  a  work  under  the  title 
Sunan  al-sufiyya  is  quoted  (Suyuti,  al-La'ali  al-masnu'a  II  178 
M.),  the  basis  as  it  appears  of  the  Sufi  Hadith  brought  forward 
by  him.  A  famous  Koran  commentary  in  the  Sufi  spirit  of  which 
there  are  various  editions  (first  BulaTc  1283  in  2  vols.),  and  from 
which  one  can  best  study  the  spirit  and  tendency  of  this  exegesis 
is  the  Tafs'ir  of  Muhyi  al-din  ibn  'Arabi  of  Murcia  (d.  638/ 
1240  in  Damascus).  In  Islamic  literature  the  Ta'wllat-al-Kordn 
of  Abdarrazzak  al-Kashi  or  al-Kashani  of  Samarkand  (d. 
887/1482),  of  which  there  are  various  manuscripts  (Brockelmann 
1.  c.  2.  203,  No.  9),  and  representing  the  same  tendency,  is  fre- 
quently quoted.  The  allegory  of  the  sinful  city  and  the  three 
messengers  of  God,  mentioned  in  our  text,  is  taken  from  this 
latter  work. 
2.  In  V.   626   of  his   Td'iyya-Tcasida    (Diwan  ed.   Beyrouth   120,  8), 

famed  in  §uf i  circles. 


206  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

3.  Mull.  Stud.  II  14.  Nevertheless,  there  are  also  statements  in 
the  Sunni  tradition  that  the  prophet  favored  certain  'companions' 
with  teachings  vrhich  he  withheld  from  the  others.  Hudeifa  ibn 
al-Yaman,  one  who  also  bears  the  title  of  Saliih  al-sirr  or 
s.  sirr  al-nabl  (possessor  of  the  secret  of  the  prophet),  was  espe- 
cially favored  in  this  respect.  (Bukh.  Isti'ddn  No.  38,  Fada'il 
al-ashab  no.  27.)  It  is  now  interesting  to  see  that  this  notice, 
which  of  course  can  mean  nothing  but  that  Hudeifa  received 
esoteric  instruction  from  the  prophet,  is  interpreted  by  the  theo- 
logians to  mean  that  Mohammed  gave  this  companion  the  names 
of  persons  of  doubtful  standing  (mundfi'ki'in) ,  not  therefore  any 
esoteric  religious  teaching — (Nawawi,  Talidib  200,  5).  But  we  find 
Hudeifa  actually  the  authority  for  a  number  of  apocalyptic  and 
eschatological  Hadiths.  In  the  canon  of  Muslim  (V  165)  in  the 
section  '^  Prerogatives  of  'Abdallah  ibn  Ja'far"  the  following 
statements  about  this  man  are  included:  ''One  day  the  prophet 
made  me  mount  behind  him,  he  then  secretly  whispered  to  me  a 
Hadith  that  I  was  not  to  communicate  to  anyone."  Bukhari 
has  not  included  this  utterance.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  this 
'Abdallah  ibn  Ja'far  was  only  ten  years  old  when  the  prophet 
died. 
VIII.  1.  The  Plotinic  elements  in  the  Sufi  system  of  Muhyi  al-din  ibn 
'Arabi  have  been  investigated  by  the  Spanish  scholar  Miguel  Asin 
Palacios  in  "La  Psicologia  segun  Mohidin  Abenarabi"  (Actes 
du  14e  Congres  internat.  des  Orientalistes — Algiers  1905 — III  79- 
150). 

2.  Fihrist  118.  119.  136.  Cf.  for  this  literature  Hommel,  in  the  "Ver- 
handlungen  des  VII  Orientalistenkongr. "  (Vienna  1887)  Sem. 
Sect.  115  ff.  The  educated  classes  show  an  interest  in  Buddha 
(Jahiz,   "Tria  Opuscula"    ed.  Van  Vloten  137,  10). 

3.  Agliani  III  24. 

4.  "Transactions  of  the  Ninth  International  Congress  of  Oriental- 
ists" (London  1893)  I  114. 

5.  "Uber  die  Philosophischen  Gedichte  des  Abu-l-'Ala  al-Ma'arry" 
(Sitzungsber.  d.  Wiener  Akad.  d.  W.  PhU,  hist.  01.  CXVII  No. 
VI  Vienna  1888)   30  fe. 

6.  Jahiz,  Bayawdn  IV  147,  Eoses  in  Zapiski  VI  336-340. 

7.  e.  g.  the  accounts  in  Yafi'i  1.  c.  208-211.  The  story  of  the  Turkish 
king  and  his  son-in-law  the  great  ascetic  in  Ibn-Arabshah, 
"Fructus  imperatorum"  (ed.  Freytag,  Bonn  1832)  I  48-53,  reverts 
to  this  same  circle  of  ideas. 

8.  Kurtubi  Tadhira,  ed.  of  Sha'rani  (Cairo  1310)   15  below. 

9.  "Mesnevi"  (Whinfield  182).  The  picturesque  representation  of 
an  episode  of  the  miraculous  tales  of  Ibr.  ibn  Edhem  in  the  Delhi 
Archeological  Museum,  (Journ.  Roy.  As.  Soc,  1909,  751;  cf. 
now  ibid.  1910,  167). 


NOTES.  207 

IX.  1.  In  contradistinction  to  physical  death  the  great  fana  (al-f.  al- 
dklar),  they  call  this  condition  'Hhe  small  f."  {al-f.  al-asgluir). 
Cf.  on  the  relation  of  the  Fana-conception  to  Nirvana  the  remark 
of  Count  E.  V.  Miilinen  in  G.  Jacob 's  ' '  Tiirkische  Bibliothek ' '  XI 
70. 

2.  Mesnevi  1.  c.  159. 

3.  It  is  Ibrahim  ibn  Edhem  who  says:  ''Meditation  is  reason's 
pilgrimage   {liaj  al-'aM).^' 

4.  'Attar  1.  c.  II,  184,  8:  Cf.  Oltramare  1.  c.  116:  "Con- 
naitre  intellectuellement  Brahman,  c'est  un  propos  absurde;  car 
toute  connaissance  suppose  une  dualite,  puisque  dans  toute  con- 
naissance  il  y  a  le  sujet  qui  connait  et  I  'ohjet  qui  est  connu. ' ' 

X.  1.  In  the  effort  to  legitimatize  their  views  and  institutions  from 
the  earliest  Moslem  times,  the  following  legend  is  manufactured 
in  Sufi  circles:  when  Mohammed  was  announced  to  the  poor 
{fukard)  that  they  should  enter  paradise  sooner  than  the  rich 
(Muh.  Stud.  II,  385,  above),  they  went  into  ecstacies  and  rent 
their  clothes  (an  expression  of  the  ecstatic  condition,  WZKM 
XVI,  139,  note  5).  Then  the  angel  Gabriel  descended  from 
heaven  and  said  to  Mohammed  that  Allah  claimed  his  share  of 
the  tatters.  He  therefore  took  a  tatter  with  him  and  hung  it  on 
the  throne  of  God.  This  is  the  prototype  of  the  Sufi  garb 
(KhirTca).    Ibn  Teymiyya,  Easci'il  II,  282. 

2.  ''Sacred  Books  of  the  East"   XII,  85,  95. 

3.  Kremer  "  Culturgeschichtl.  Streiftziige"  50  ff.  Cf.  for  the  Indian 
Eama  Prasad,  "The  Science  of  Breath  and  the  Philosophy  of 
the  Tatwas, "    tr.  from  Sanskrit  (London  1890). 

4.  Cf.  on  this  my  paper  "Le  Rosaire  dans  1 'Islam. "  (Eevue  de 
THist.  des  Eelig.  1890,  XXI,  295  ff.) 

5.  Snouck  Hurgronje  "Arable  en  Oost  Indie"  (Leiden  1907)  16. 
"Revue,  de  PHist.  des  Relig."  1908,  LVII,  71.  About  this 
branch  of  Sufiism,  see  now  the  dissertation  of  D.  A.  Rinke, 
"Abdoerraoef  van  Singkel.  Bijdrage  tot  de  kennis  van  de  mys- 
tiek  op  Sumatra  en  Java"    (Heerenveen  1909). 

XI.  1.  Cf.  now  also  the  important  paper  by  R.  A.  Nicholson,  "The 
Oldest  Persian  Manual  of  Sufiism"  in  Transactions  of  the  Third 
International  Congress  for  the  History  of  Religions,  I  293  ff. 

2.  "A  historical  Inquiry  concerning  the  Origin  and  Development  of 
Sufiism,"    (Journ.  Roy.  Asiat.  Soc.  1906,  303-348). 

3.  Subki,  Tabakat  III,  239  ult. 

4.  A  mystic  of  the  4th  century,  of  the  Higra  Abu  Sa'ld  Ihn  al- 
A'raU,  of  Basra  (d.  340/951)  expresses  himself  thus:  "They 
(the  §ufis)  use  the  words  al-jam'  (concentration)  although  their 
idea  of  it  differs  with  each  person.  The  same  is  true  of  fand. 
They  use  the  same  word,  but  each  one  with  a  different  meaning. 
The  meanings  of  these  words,  however,  are  unlimited.     They  are 


208  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

(exponents    of)     intuitive    discernment;     but    intuitive    discern- 
ment cannot  be  bounded. ''     Dahabi  1.  c.  Ill,  70. 

5.  See  the  exposition  of  this  principle  by  one  of  its  oldest  adher- 
ents Al-Harith  al  Muhasibi  (d.  Baghdad  243/857) ;  Subki  1.  c. 
II,  41  penult. — the  Jfuluh  (hearts)  play  a  most  important  part 
in  the  ethics  of  Moslem  ascetics.  This  is  already  evident  from 
the  titles  of  their  literary  productions.  See  '*Kevue  des  Etudes 
Juives''    XLIX,  157. 

6.  See  especially  Jacob,  Turkish  Bibl.  IX,  ''Beitrage  sur  Kenntniss 
des  Ordens  der  Bektaschis"  and  more  recently,  by  the  same 
author  ''Die  Bektaschijje  in  ihren  Verhaltniss  zu  verwandten 
Erscheinungen. ' '  (Munich,  1909,  Abhandl.  Bayer.  Akad.  d. 
Wiss.  I.  Kl.,  vol.  XXIV,  3d  div.),  especially  p.  43  on  Gnostic 
Analogies. 

7.  Oltramare  1.  c.  I,  214  ''A  partir  du  Moment  ou  la  connaissance 
s'est  eveille  en  moi,  ou  je  me  suis  uni  a  Brahman,  il  n'y  a 
plus  pour  moi  d'actes  ni  d'  obligations;  il  n'y  a  plus  ni  Veda  ni 
pluralite,  ni  monde  empirique,  ni  samsara";  ibid.  356;  ''Tout 
alors  lui  (le  yogin)  devient  indifferent.  Dans  le  monde  phys- 
ique, d'abord:  'il  n'y  a  plus  pour  lui  d 'aliments  prohibes  ou  pre- 
scrits;  tons  les  sues  sont  pour  lui  sans  sue'  .  .  .  dans  le  monde 
morale  aussi  'la  meditation  du  yogin  libere  de  tout  les  peches, 
quand  meme  le  peche  s  'etendrait  sur  de  nombreux  yojana. '  ' ' 

8.  e.  g.  with  the  gnostic  Epiphanes,  son  of  Karpokrates.  By  the 
contemplation  of  the  Highest,  all  external  acts  become  indifferent 
and  meaningless.  This  entails  the  rejection  of  all  legality  and 
social  order.  Even  the  Ten  Commandments  are  scorned.  The 
gnosis  monadike,  the  union  of  the  spirit  vdth  the  highest  unity, 
raises  him  above  all  binding  forms  of  religion.  Neander  "Gene- 
tische  Entwicklung  der  vornehmsten  gnostischen  systeme"  (Ber- 
lin 1818)   358-9. 

9.  Stromata  III,  5. 

XII.  1.  Cf.  Subki,  Mu'id  al-ni'am  ed.  Myhrman,  178  ff. 

2.  Jeldl  al-dln,  quatrain.  It  is  a  constantly  recurring  complaint  in 
the  Sufi  literature  itself  that  many  unworthy  elements  asso- 
ciate themselves  with  the  movement,  misusing  their  afiiliation  for 
worldly  ends. 

3.  Cf.  an  old  example  by  Sprenger,  "Mohammed"  III,  CLXXIX, 
note  (Shibli).  The  Malamati,  however,  are  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  Malami  brotherhood  in  Turkey,  concerning  which  Mar- 
tin Hartmann  has  lately  made  important  contributions,  "Der 
Islamische  Orient"    III  (index  s.  v.). 

4.  Mesnevi   (Whinfield)   91. 

.     5.  The  analysis  of  the  work  by  Eene  Bassett,   "Eecueil  de  Memoires 
et  de  Textes  publie  en  I'honneur  du  XlVe  Congres  des  Oriental- 
istes"    (Algiers,  1905)  Iff. 
6.  Hartmann,    "Der  Islamische  Orient"    I,  156  ff. 


NOTES.  209 

7.  Keitzenstein,  '  ^  Hellenistische  Wundererzahlungen ' '  65  ff. 
XIII.  1.  'Attar,  TadMrat  al-auliyd  II,  177,  11  ff.  The  polemic  of  the 
opponents  of  the  §ufi  Ibn  Teymiyya  seems  to  be  directed  against 
this.  He  accuses  the  adepts  of  Suf iism  of  arrogance.  ' '  That 
he  wishes  to  obtain  his  knowledge  from  the  same  source  from 
which  the  angel  who  comes  to  the  prophet  obtains  his, "  i.  e.  direct 
divine  revelation.     (Easa'il  I,  20.) 

2.  Shemsi  Tehrizi  124. 

3.  Attar,  TadTcirat  al-auliyd.  II,  159,  12.  Ibn  Teymiyya  (1.  c.  I, 
148  above)  speaks  of  the  Sufis,  who  truly  hate  the  prophets, 
especially  Mohammed,  because  he  brought  division  (farh)  among 
men,  and  punished  each  one  who  did  not  acknowledge  him. 

4.  Mesnevi  (Whinfield)   83. 

5.  See  the  text  in  Zahiriten  132.  Cf.  also  Jacob,  "Tiirkische  Bib- 
liothek"    IX,  23. 

6.  Jelal  al-din,  quarto. 

7.  In  Ibn  Teymiyya,  1.  c.  I,  145. 

8.  Browne,    ^'A  Literary  History  of  Persia.''     II,  268. 

9.  Ed.  Eosenzweig-Schwannau  I,  584  (Dal  No.  108). 

10.  Ethe  in  * '  Sitzungsberichte  der  Bayererischen  Akad.  d.  Wiss. 
PhU:"   Kl.  II  (1875)  157. 

11.  Cf.  Friedrich  Eosen,  <*Die  Sinnspriiche  'Omars  des  Zeltmachers ' ' 
(Stuttgart  and  Leipzig  1909),  especially  the  poems  translated 
on  p.  118  ff. 

12.  Mesnevi   (Whinfield)    53. 

13.  Dahabi,  TadMrat  al-liuffaz  IV,  15. 

14.  Journ.  Eoy.  As.  Soc.  1906,  819;  cf.  the  chapters  developing 
this  train  of  thought  in  Ghazali's  Ihya'ulum  al-din.  Ill,  13  ff. — 
the  mystic  Muhyi  al-din  Ibn  'Arabi  sent  to  his  younger  con- 
temporary the  dogmatic  Fakhr  al-din  al-Eazi,  an  epistle  in  which 
he  pointed  out  the  latter 's  lack  of  knowledge.  Complete  knowl- 
edge is  received  dii-ectly  from  God,  not  through  tradition  and 
teachings.  Similarly,  the  §ufi  Abu  Yezid  al-Bistami  (d.  261/ 
875)  declared  to  the  Ulama  of  his  time:  ''You  are  receiving  dead 
knowledge  from  dead  people;  we  receive  ours  from  a  living  One 
who  does  not  die";  quoting  from  'Abd  al-Wahhab  al-Sha'rani 
in  Hasan  al-'Adawi's  Commentary  to  Burda  (Cairo  1297)  II, 
76.  The  epistle  is  given  in  full  in  KesKkul  by  Beha  al-din  al- 
'Amili,  341-342;  but  this  text  lacks  the  reference  to  the  speech 
of  Abu  Yazid  al-Bistami.  Ibn  Teymiyya  {Basa'U  1,  52  below) 
gives  the  discussion  of  Ibn  'Arabi  with  Al-Eazi  (and  one  of  his 
companions)  in  the  form  of  an  oral  communication. 

15.  Jelal  al-dm  Bumi  quarto. 

16.  Bisdla  fl'ilm  al-tasawwuf  end. 

17.  Attar,  TadMrat  al-auliyd  II,  274. 

18.  These  thoughts,  too,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Indian  theosophy, 


210  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

and  can  easily  be  traced  back  through  various  mediums  to  it  as 
the  original  source.  I  refer  here  to  Oltramare's  quotations  1.  c. 
on  several  teachings  relating  to  this:  p.  120  **Ce  n'est  pas 
par  1 'Enseigement  que  I'atman  pent  etre  per^u;  ce  n'est  pas 
non  plus  par  Pentendement,  ni  par  la  connaissance  des  ecritures; 
seul,  celui  qu  'il  choisit  le  comprend ;  1  'atman  leur  revele  son  exist- 
ence'' (from  Kathaka  Upanishad) :  p.  115,  *'C'est  pourquoi 
le  brahmane  doit  se  debarasser  de  I'erudition  et  demeurer  comme 
un  enfant";  p.  210.  ^'Cette  connaissance  n'est  pas  le  fruit 
de  quelque  activite  intellectuelle  et  dialectique.  C'est  le  savoir 
profane  qui  a  besoin  de  preuves  et  de  raisonnements,  mais  I'Etre 
se  revele  par  sa  propre  lumiere;  qu'est-il  besoin  de  la  demon- 
trer?"  The  same  thought  is  to  be  found  stated  thus  in  neo- 
Platonism:  One  is  enabled  to  grasp  the  intelligible  world  through 
spiritual  contemplation,  not  through  logic  and  syllogism.  (Theolo- 
gie  des  Aristot.  ed.  TDieterici  163,  3.) 

19.  ZDMG  LXII,  11  above. 

20.  Cf.  above  note  3.  5. 

XIV.  1.  Perhaps  the  decision  of  Auza'i  belongs  to  this  also:  ''The  §ufi 
garb  is  in  accord  with  Sunna  in  travelling,  but  during  a  continu- 
ous sojourn  such  a  garb  is  hid' a.  {Tadkirat  al-huffdz,  III, 
232.) 

2.  Ibn  Kuteiba,  'TJyun  al-akhbdr,  355,  5. 

3.  ZDMG  XXVIII,  326,  cf.  above  p.  108. 

4.  'Attar  II,  40,  19. 

5.  Jour.  Eoy.  As.  Soc.  1906,  323. 

6.  'Attar  II,  48;    74  below. 

XV.  1.  Such  complaints  are  naturally  not  without  a  basis  in  the  time 
after  Kusheiri;  a  number  of  utterances  have  been  collected  in 
the  commentary  {al-Futulmt  al-ildhiya)  of  Ahmed  Ibn  Moham- 
med al-Shadali  from  Fez  to  al-Mahdhith  al-asliyya,  of  the 
Sufi  author,  Abu -1-' Abbas  Ahmed  Ibn  Mohammed  Ibn  al-Banna 
al-Tujibi  of  Saragossa  (Cairo  1324/1906  I,  21  ff.).  The  nihilistic 
tendency  toward  the  law  has  never  appeared  so  clearly  in  the  Magh- 
rib Sufiism  as  in  the  East.  The  warnings  against  it  have  made 
the  greatest  impression  on  western  Islam.  Cf.  also  the  Magh- 
rib criticism  of  Eastern  §ufiism.  ZDMG  XXVIII,  325  ff. 
XVI.  1.  For  the  characterization  of  the  further  position  of  Ghazali 
towards  the  philosophy  opposed  by  him,  the  word  of  Abu  Bekr 
Ibn  al-'Arabi  (Kadi  in  Seville  d.  546/1151),  is  worthy  of  men- 
tion: "Our  sheikh  Abu  Hamid  entered  the  body  of  philosophy. 
He  then  wanted  to  slip  out  but  could  not  do  it."  (Quoted  by 
'AH  al-Kari  in  the  commentary  to  the  Shifd  of  the  Kadi  'lyad, 
Stamboul  1299,  II,  509.) 
2.  The  later  Sufi  al-Sha'rani  in  this  theological  group  busied  him- 
self  especially   with   the   estimate   of   the   ritualistic    differences 


NOTES.  211 

of   the   teachings    (see   above)    and   developed    a   special   theory 
about  their  relation  to  each  other,  according  to  which  each  of 
the  diverging  views  of  the  law  have  a  relative  meaning  only,  and 
the  same  religious  law  has  two  sides:    the  strict  (tashdld,  aggra- 
vation)   and   the   indulgent    (tahhfif,   mitigating).      The   former 
holds  good  for  the  more  perfect  men  from  whom  God  demands 
self-denial;     the  latter  for  the  weaker  who  are  granted  mitiga- 
tion by  the  same  law.     The  various  schools  of  law,  insofar  as 
they  disagree  over  any  given  law,  represent  the  one  or  the  other  of 
these.     On  account  of  this  demonstration  Sha'rani  calls  the  work 
in  which  he  treats  it  ''Die  Wage  des  Gesetzes''  (the  Scales  of  the 
Law).     (See  ZDMG  XXXVIII,  676.)     We  mention  this  theory  of 
Sha'rani  which  he  himself  extols  in  several  of  his  works  with  spe- 
cial emphasis  as  his  own  meritorious  discovery,  in  order  to  empha- 
size the  fact  that  it  was  proposed  more  than  five  centuries  before 
him  by  an  old  Sufi  classicist,  Abu  Talib  al-Mekki  (d.  386/996). 
(Eiit-al   Tculul) — Cairo,    1310 — II.    20   middle)    who   was   famous 
as    Sheikh    al-shan-^a    wal-hdk%ka    (master    of    law    and    mysti- 
cal truth)    (Damiri  II   120    s.   v.   tajr)    to  whose  work   Ghazali 
acknowledges  himself  to  be  indebted.     The  seed  of  this  distinction 
can   be   in   reality   traced   back   to   the  second  century  after  the 
Hijra.       The    ascetic    traditionalist    ' Ahdallah    ibn    al-Muharah 
(d.  181/797,  cf.  about  him  M.  Hartmann  in  Zeitschrift  f.  Assyr. 
XXIII    241)    gives   two    contradictory    Hadiths    from   the   point 
of  view  that  the  commands  contained  in,  one  were  for  the  chosen 
few  {al-Tchawdss) ,  the  other  for  the  common  people  {al-' awdmm) 
(quoted  in  Ithaf  al-sada  Cairo  1311— VII  572). 

3.  Ihya'ulum  al  din  I  54,  17. 

4.  ZDMG  LIII  619  note  2. 

5.  And  many  other  extravagant  epithets,  of  which  quite  a  number 
can  for  example  be  found  in  the  inscription  of  a  pen  case  in 
an  Arab  museum  in  Cairo,  a  case  that  is  supposed  to  have  been 
presented  to  Ghazali,  although  its  authenticity  is  very  doubt- 
ful. (Bulletin  de  I'Institut  egyptien  for  1906,  57,  where  the 
genuineness  of  this  showpiece  is  taken  for  granted.) 

6.  The  places  in  Yahuda,  ''Prolegomena  zu  .  .  .  Eitdb  al-hi- 
ddya  etc."     (Darmstadt  1904)    14,  note  2. 

7.  In  the  characterization  of  Ghazali  some  features  are  taken  from 
my  essay  in  the    "Kultur  d.  Gegenwarf    114-5. 

XVII.  1.  A  contemporary  of  Ahmed  ibn  Hanbal,  the  Fikh  scholar  Harl) 
ihn  Ismd'il  al-Kermdm  (d.  288/901)  was  blamed  for  scorning 
the  party  of  the  ahl  al-saldt  (who  differed  from  him),  in  his  book 
Kitdh  al-Sunno.  waljamd' a  (Yakut  Geogr.  WB.  Ill  213  ult.). 

2.  Cf.  my  introduction  to  "Le  Livre  de  Mohammed  ibn  Toumert** 
(Algiers  1903)  58-60. 

3.  Bibliotheca  Geograph.  Arabic  ed.  de  Goeje  III  365-366. 


212  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

4.  Introduction  to   ' '  Ibn  Tomnert  *  M.  c.  57. 

5.  Cf.  the  article  "Zur  Gesch.  d.  hanbalitischen  Bewegungen'* 
ZDMG  LXII  5  and  passim.  Abu  Ma' mar  al  Hudali  (cf.  above 
145,  VI,  3)  says  curtly:  ''He  who  says  that  God  neither  speaks 
nor  hears  nor  sees,  is  not  kindly,  does  not  grow  angry  (attributes 
which  the  Mu'tazilites  subject  to  a  ta'wU),  he  is  a  Mfir."  But 
at  the  time  of  the  inquisition  (mihna)  he  too  manifested  weakness 
and  made  concessions  to  the  Mu'tazilite  authority,  which  freed 
him  from  further  persecution.  He  could  then  easily  have  said: 
"We  became  kafirs,  and  thereby  escaped.''  Tadkirat  al-Jiuffds 
II  56. 

6.  ZDMG  LVII  395.  A  number  of  the  utterances  and  judgments 
of  a  strict  Kufi  theologian  Ibrahim  al-Nakha'i,  a  contemporary 
of  Hajaj  (d.  96/714),  are  given  by  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  191,  7  ff.  He 
explained  his  dissatisfaction  with  their  teachings,  warned  the 
people  of  their  evil  consequences,  and  did  not  wish  people  to 
spend  much  time  in  their  company.  He  caUs  their  doctrine  (1.  11. 
13)  ra'j  muhdath  (a  new-found  opinion)  or  iid' a  (see  last 
chapter) ;  but  the  word  Jcufr  or  Ted  fir  does  not  come  to  his 
lips.  The  seeds  of  a  fanatical  temper  are  already  apparent 
in  the  middle  of  the  2d  century  of  the  Hijra,  in  Sufyan  al 
Thauri,  and  in  a  colleague  of  the  same  stamp,  who  did  not  wish 
to  be  present  at  the  Murji'ite  funeral,  although  the  pious 
life  led  by  the  dead  person  was  famous  (ibid.  VI  252,  4;  254,  1). 
Nevertheless  they  did  not  yet  want  to  brand  them  as  Icdfir.  It 
is  noteworthy  for  the  ruling  opinion  that  the  course  taken  by 
Sufyan  is  mentioned  as  an  anomaly. 

7.  Even  here  milder  views  sometimes  appear;  e.  g.  the  judgment 
about  the  faith  of  the  Karmaths  in  Yakut  ed.  Margoliouth  I 
86  below. 

XVIII.  1.  The  views  of  the  dogmatists  on  this  subject  are  gathered  together 
in  "Les  prolegomenes  theologiques  de  Senoussi"  ed.  J.  D. 
Luciani  96-112. 

2.  Jahiz,  Hayawdn  1  80,  14;    cf.  103,  8. 

3.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  common  tendency  of  the  post-Ghazalian 
orthodoxy,  that  a  theologian,  so  readily  given  to  fanaticism  as 
the  Hanbalite  zealot  Taki  al-din  ibn  Teymiyya  (ZDMG  LXII  25) 
on  this  question  stands  nearer  to  Ghazali,  whom  he  so  strongly 
opposed,  than  many  a  rationalistic  dogmatic.  In  his  commentary 
to  the  112th  Sura,  Surat  al-ITchlds  (Cairo  1323  ed.  Na'asani, 
112-113)  he  devotes  to  him  an  excursus  which  closes  with  the 
conclusion  that  Mu' tazilites,  Kharijites,  Murji'ites,  as  well  as 
the  ordinary  Shi'ites,  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  Unbelievers. 
They  agree  on  the  Koran  and  the  Sunna,  and  go  astray  only 
over  interpretations,  nor  do  they  in  any  way  attack  the  binding 
force  of  the  law.     The  Jahmiyya  are  to  be  excluded,  because  of 


NOTES.  213 

their  intransigent  removal  of  all  divine  names  and  attributes, 
and  above  all  the  Isma'ilites,  because  they  deny  the  validity  of 
the  ritual  law.  In  this  massive  work  of  the  militant  Hanbalites, 
one  can  see  the  influence  of  an  attitude  that  accords  with  the 
former  mild  view  of  the  Sunna.  From  two  absolutely  opposing 
standpoints,  Ghazali  and  his  chief  opponent  ibn  Teymiyya  reflect 
the  influence  of  the  dogmatic  definitions  of  the  various  schools 
upon  Islam. 


CHAPTER  V. 
MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS. 

It  is  customary  to  attribute  much  more  diversity  to 
the  ramifications  of  sects  in  Islam  than  is  warranted  by 
a  correct  estimate  of  the  facts.  Moslem  theology  is  itself 
in  great  part  to  blame  for  this.  In  consequence  of  a 
misunderstanding  of  a  tradition  which  gave  to  Islam  the 
glory  of  possessing  73  varieties,  as  against  72  in 
Christianity,  and  71  in  Judaism,  it  made  of  this  virtue 
73  ramifications.  This  misunderstanding  formed  the 
basis  for  the  enumeration  of  as  many  sects  all  of  which 
were  relegated  to  Hell,  with  the  exception  of  the  one 
which  ^^ escapes'*  and  alone  ensures  salvation;  to  wit, 
the  one  that  agrees  with  the  demands  of  Sunna.^  In 
more  tolerant  circles,  where  the  name  of  Ghazali  is 
naturally  not  absent,  a  corresponding  broader  interpre- 
tation has  been  given  to  this  statement:  ''All  of  them 
(these  ramifications)  will  find  their  way  to  Paradise, 
only  one  goes  to  Hell ;  namely,  the  Zindiks. ' ' 

Occidental  views  were  partially  influenced,  owing  to 
this  misconception  of  the  Mohammedan  tradition  of  the 
73  virtues  and  their  transformation  into  ramifications. 
Not  only  are  ritualistic  tendencies  (such  as  the  Hanifite, 
the  Malikite,  etc.)  spoken  of  as  sects  of  Islam,  but  the 
same  name  is  given  to  the  dogmatic  differences,  the 
deviations  from  the  aspect  of  general  orthodoxy,  which 
never  served  as  the  basis  for  the  organization  of  a  dis- 
senting group.  To  speak  for  example  of  a  Mu'tazilite 
sect,  shows  for  instance  a  total  misconception  of  the 
inner  history  of  Islam.  To  be  sure,  the  dogmatists  were 
mutually  all  too  ready  to  heap  upon  the  opponents  of 
their  theses  the  epithet  kafir,  unbeliever;  and  now  and 
then  they  seriously  attempted  to  challenge  each  other's 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  215 

rights  to  belong  to  Islam,  and  to  put  into  operation  the 
practical  results  of  this  view  (see  above  page  182).  An 
orthodox  son  cannot  share  in  the  inheritance  of  his 
father,  if  the  latter  professes  the  Mu^tazilite  doctrine  of 
free-will,  for  according  to  Mohammedan  law  ^  ^  disparitas 
cultus*'  is  an  obstacle  to  inheritance.^  But  such  fanat- 
ical exaggeration  does  not  fit  in  with  the  dominant 
trend  of  thought  in  the  Islamic  solidarity.^  Indeed  this 
very  application  of  the  law  of  inheritance  was  directly 
ascribed  to  a  lunatic. 

Only  those  groups  can  be  regarded  as  real  sects  in 
Islam,  whose  adherents  separate  themselves  from  the 
Sunna  and  from  the  historically  recognized  constitution 
of  Islam  in  questions  of  fundamental  importance  for 
Islam;  and  such  fundamental  points  stand  opposed  to 
Ijma^  (general  consensus). 

Schisms  of  this  kind,  which  still  maintain  themselves 
in  the  present  organization  of  Islam,  may  be  traced  back 
to  its  earliest  times. 

Apparently,  it  is  not  questions  of  '' Religion''  which 
stand  in  the  foreground,  but  those  pertaining  to  the 
organization  of  the  state.  Naturally,  religious  points  of 
view  will  permeate  political  questions  in  the  case  of  a 
community,  based  on  religious  bonds.  The  religious 
aspects  assume  the  form  of  religious  motives,  which  lend 
their  local  color  to  the  political  strife. 

The  significance  of  the  oldest  sectarian  movements  lies 
just  in  the  fact  that  out  of  the  warlike  character  of  old 
Islam  issue  those  religious  points  of  view,  which,  further 
enriched  through  external  factors,  soon  give  to  the  schism 
a  religious  stamp.  Nevertheless,  political  questions 
beset  the  parties  at  the  outset;  the  religious  interest 
mixes  with  this  as  a  ferment,  only  to  become  very  soon 
a  determining  element  in  the  permanence  of  the  rupture. 

11.  Inasmuch  as  Mohammed  failed  in  an  authentic 
manner  to  indicate  his  wishes  in  regard  to  a  successor, 


216  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  decisions  in  each  case  after  the  death  of  Mohammed 
as  to  the  succession,  form  the  most  momentous  problem 
of  the  Islamic  community. 

-^  In  the  fortunate  choice  of  a  successor  (Caliph)  lay 
the  security  for  the  continuation  of  the  Prophet's  work. 
From  the  very  first  there  was  among  the  influential 
Moslems,  one  group  which  was  dissatisfied  with  the  man- 
ner in  which  that  dignity  had  been  bestowed  upon  its 
first  three  candidates,  Abu  Bekr,  'Omar,  and  'Othman, 
without  regard  to  their  degree  of  relationship  to  the 
V  Prophet.  From  the  latter  point  of  view  they  would  have 
preferred  to  raise  to  the  Caliphate  'All,  the  cousin  of 
the  Prophet,  his  nearest  of  kin  who  moreover  was  mar- 
ried to  Fatima,  the  Prophet's  daughter.  Their  oppor- 
tunity to  protest  vehemently  came  only  with  the  acces- 
sion of  the  third  Caliph,  for  he  was  a  member  of  the  very 
family  whose  chief  members  had  long  maintained  a  stub- 
born opposition  to  Islam  at  its  beginning,  although 
influenced  by  the  success  of  the  movement,  they  joined 
it  while  Mohammed  was  still  alive.  The  predominating 
influence  over  the  state  which  this  family  attained  dur- 
ing its  rule,  together  with  the  enjoyment  of  its  material 
advantages,  led  to  an  alignment  of  the  dissatisfied  and 
repressed,  and  finally  to  the  assassination  of  the  Caliph. 
War  thereupon  broke  out  between  the  party  of  'AJi  and 
the  adherents  of  the  murdered  Caliph,  who  now  appeared 
as  the  avengers  of  'Othman's  blood,  and  who  acknowl- 
edged as  their  candidate  the  Omayyad  Mu'awiyya,  the 
governor  of  Syria. 

It  could  not  rightly  be  denied  that  'Othman,  though 
belonging  to  a  family  not  religiously  fanatic,  was  him- 
self a  zealous  adherent  of  Islam.  Among  the  accusa- 
tions that  could  be  brought  up  against  him,  that  of 
religious  apathy  is  hardly  prominent.  Death  found  him 
in  the  midst  of  his  preoccupation  with  the  holy  book,  the 
text  of  which,  fixed  through  his  efforts,  is  still  regarded 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  217 

as  the  Masoretic  text  of  the  Koran.  His  opponents, 
to  be  sure,  seem  to  have  cast  aspersions  even  upon  this 
devout  concern  with  the  holy  writ  of  Islam.  In  spite 
of  his  religious  attitude  there  arose  during  his  reign  by 
the  side  of  the  political  malcontents,  a  movement,  weak 
in  its  beginnings,  to  be  sure,  but  a  movement  of  religious 
agitators,  who  saw  in  *Ali  and  in  *Ali  alone,  the  repre-  i^ 
sentative  of  divine  right  for  the  Caliphate.  It  was  not 
this  group,  however,  that  enabled  *Ali  to  enter  as  the 
fourth  in  the  group  of  Caliphs,  without,  however,  attain- 
ing universal  recognition  for  this  dignity.  He  was 
obliged  to  struggle  for  it  in  warfare  against  the  avengers 
of  ^Othman  and  their  leader,  the  Omayyad  Mu^awiyya. 
By  a  sly  bit  of  strategy  which  August  Miiller  called  ' '  one 
of  the  most  undignified  farces  in  history,''^  the  latter 
succeeded,  in  the  midst  of  a  skirmish  which  might  easily 
have  ended  disastrously  for  them,  in  having  the  decision 
submitted  to  arbitration.  *Ali  was,  from  the  political 
point  of  view,  weak  enough  to  assent  to  this  seemingly 
peaceful  solution  of  the  problem.  As  it  subsequently 
proved,  however,  he  was  tricked  all  along  the  line.  His 
opponent  kept  the  upper  hand,  and  it  does  not  take  much 
perspicacity  to  realize  that  his  final  overthrow  would 
have  been  inevitable  even  if  the  dagger  of  an  assassin 
had  not  put  an  end  to  his  struggles. 

*Airs  assent  to  a  decision  by  arbitration,  was  the 
first  incentive  to  the  subdivision  of  sects  within  Islam.^^ 
In  the  caliph's  camp,  there  were  visionaries  who  reflected 
that  the  decision  of  the  combated  issue  about  the 
succession  to  the  Prophet  should  not  be  entrusted  to 
human  hands.  The  divine  trial  by  battle  should  have 
been  carried  out.  All  rule,  said  they,  comes  from  God, 
and  decision  concerning  it  could  not  be  attached  to  human 
consideration.  With  this  dictum  they  now  seceded  from 
the  throng  of  'Airs  followers,  and  owing  to  this  split 
they  are  known  in  the  history  of  Islam  as  Kharijites 


218  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

(Seceders).  They  set  aside  both  aspirants  as  despisers 
of  the  law,  because  they  were  convinced  that  it  was  not 
the  triumph  of  divine  right^  but  the  worldly  motives  of 
power  and  lust  for  supremacy  which  were  the  incentive 
and  goal  of  their  warfare.  The  Caliphate  must  be 
filled  by  the  worthiest  man  through  free  choice  of  the 
congregation.  They  were  prepared  to  take  the  conse- 
quences of  this  demand  for  free  choice,  in  that  they  did 
not  restrict  this,  as  in  the  previous  installations  of 
caliphs,  to  any  particular  prominent  family  group,  nor 
to  the  Kureish,  the  tribe  from  which  the  Prophet  sprang. 
An  ^'Ethiopian  slave''  would  have  the  same  qualifica- 
tions of  a  caliph  as  the  scion  of  the  noblest  clan.  On 
the  other  hand  they  demand  of  the  head  of  Islam  the 
strictest  devotion  to  God,  and  fulfillment  of  religious 
laws ;  if  his  conduct  was  not  accordant  to  these  demands, 
he  was  to  be  removed  by  the  congregation.  Moreover, 
they  judged  the  conduct  of  the  ordinary  man  by  stricter 
standards  than  had  been  customary.  Herein  they  pre- 
sent a  sharp  contrast  to  the  views  of  the  Murjiites  (see 
above  page  91).  In  contrast  to  them,  they  regard 
*^ works''  so  highly  as  an  integral  element  in  the  defini- 
tion of  faith  that  they  look  upon  any  one  who  is  guilty 
of  a  grave  sin,  as  not  simply  a  sinner  but  an  unbeliever.^ 
Because  of  the  strict  point  of  view  of  their  religious 
ethics  they,  with  a  certain  degree  of  justice,  have  been 
called  the  Puritans  of  Islam.* 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  characteristic  of  the  ethical 
point  of  view  that  they  endeavored  to  invest  the  rigor  of 
the  law  with  a  greater  degree  of  ethical  considera- 
tion than  was  customary  in  current  orthodoxy.  The 
following  detail  may  serve  as  an  example:  Islamic  law 
most  definitely  specifies  the  conditions  of  religious  purity 
necessary  for  the  performance  of  prayer.  These  quali- 
fications refer  without  exception  to  states  of  the  body. 
The  Kharijites  while  accepting  these  conditions  unquali- 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  219 

fiedly,  add  certain  clauses  which  I  quote  from  a  religious 
work  of  this  sect  that  has  recently  appeared  in  print^ : 
^*In  like  manner  the  state  of  purification  is  cancelled  by 
whatever  issues  from  the  mouth,  of  lying  or  evil  report 
through  which  a  fellow-being  may  come  to  grief,  or  what- 
soever one  would  be  ashamed  to  mention  in  his  presence, 
furthermore  by  tale-bearing  which  stirs  up  hatred  and 
enmity  among  mankind;  furthermore,  if  anyone  has 
scorned  or  uttered  curses  or  ugly  words  against  man  or 
beast  without  their  deserving  it,  then  he  has  departed 
from  the  state  of  purification  and  must  complete  the 
ritualistic  cleansing  before  he  can  perform  the  prayer." 
That  is  to  say,  untruthful,  wicked,  unseemly  speech,  in 
short  ethical  shortcomings,  destroy  the  state  of  personal 
purification  no  less  than  does  physical  contamination. 
Ethical  purity  is  demanded,  as  a  preliminary  condition 
for  prayer.^ 

Legal,  dogmatic,  and  ethical  principles  signalize  the 
distinctive  character  of  the  Kharijites.  On  this  ground 
after  the  victory  of  the  Omayyads  they  continued  their 
struggle  against  this  dynasty  which  they  looked  upon  as 
sinful,  lawless  and  ungodly,  and  carried  the  revolution 
against  them  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  great  domain. 
They  formed  no  definite  organization;  they  clustered 
around  no  unified  Caliphate ;  but  their  widely  scattered 
bands  under  various  commanders,  harassed  the  parties 
in  power,  and  called  forth  all  the  energy  of  the  great 
generals  to  whose  skill  and  luck  in  warfare  the  stability 
of  the  Omayyad  Caliphate  was  due.  Most  willingly  the 
Kharijites  were  joined  by  the  disinherited  classes  of 
society,  whose  support  they  easily  won  by  their  demo- 
cratic tendencies  and  their  protest  against  the  injustice 
of  those  in  power.  Their  revolt  easily  became  a  nucleus 
for  every  anti-dynastic  rising.  It  gave  shape  and  form 
to  the  revolt  of  the  freedom-loving  Berbers  of  North 
Africa  against  the  Omayyad  officials.    Moslem  historians 


220  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

have  not  been  able  to  conceive  of  the  dogged  national 
resistance  of  Berbers  as  other  than  a  ^^Elharijite"  move- 
ments Here  indeed  the  Kharijite  sect  maintained  its 
integrity  in  compact  groups  the  longest. 

After  the  suppression  of  their  revolts,  the  Kharijites 
restricted  themselves  to  the  theoretical  furtherance  of 
their  peculiar  teachings — political,  ethical  and  dogmatic, 
and  after  they  were  forced  to  abandon  the  conflict  against 
ruling  political  conditions,  they  succeeded  in  producing 
a  considerable  theological  literature.'^* 

As  the  Kharijites  at  the  time  of  their  warfare  appear 
in  scattered  groups,  so  the  religious  doctrine  developing 
within  these  groups  shades  off  into  varying  formulas 
that  for  the  most  part  are  traced  back  to  their  old  leaders. 
It  is  remarkable  that  in  certain  important  questions  of 
dogma  they  stand  nearest  to  the  MuHazilites.^ 

Eationalistic  tendencies  had  already  shown  themselves 
in  their  theologians  at  a  time  when  their  belief  did  not 
yet  appear  in  any  fixed,  positive  form,  but  was  still  in  a 
state  of  flux  and,  in  contrast  with  orthodoxy,  emphasized 
the  negative  phases.  In  the  midst  of  their  opposition  to 
the  universal  doctrines,  there  was  one  faction  that  recog- 
nized the  Koran  as  the  exclusive  law-giving  authority, 
and  refused  whatever  was  outside  it  as  inapplicable  for 
the  regulation  of  religious  affairs.^  One  of  their  factions 
went  so  far  as  to  attack  the  integrity  of  the  Koran. 
According  to  them  the  ''Joseph  Sura"  did  not  belong 
in  the  Koran;  was  purely  a  profane  narrative  and  it 
was  not  possible  that  this  erotic  story  should  be  on  a 
par  with  the  rest  of  the  sacred  books  of  revelation.^^ 
The  same  thing  was  asserted  by  pious  Mu'tazilites  with 
regard  to  those  sections  of  the  Koran  in  which  the 
Prophet  curses  his  enemies  (as,  e.  g.,  Abu  Lahab). 
Such  passages  cannot  possibly  be  regarded  as  ''a  sub- 
lime revelation  on  an  authentic  tablet. ''^^ 

Since   the   community   of   Kharijites   was    developed 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  221 

apart  from  the  general  Sunna  Ijma%  it  is  natural  that 
the  external  manifestations  of  the  ritual  and  law  some- 
times differed  from  the  orthodox.^^  In  order  to  distin- 
guish itself  from  the  consensus  which  found  expression  in 
the  four  ruling  orthodox  rituals,  the  Kharijites  from  their 
point  of  view  designated  themselves  as  al-khawdmis  the 
^' fifth,''  i.  e.,  the  separatists  who  were  outside  of  the 
four  communities  (of  the  orthodox  Madahib). 

Up  till  the  present  day  even,  there  are  Moslem  com- 
munities who  call  themselves  Kharijites.  Out  of  the 
many  subdivisions  into  which — as  has  been  noted  above — 
Islam  had  split  owing  to  certain  doctrinal  differences, 
a  system  has  maintained  itself,  which  was  called  after  its 
founder,  Ibadite  (in  N.  Africa  generally  pronounced 
abadite).^^  The  Ibadites  are  still  to  be  found  in  numer- 
ous communal  groups,  chiefly  in  North  Africa:^*  in  the 
territory  of  the  Mzab,  in  the  environs  of  the  Jebel  Nefusa 
(Tripolitan),  whose  inhabitants  sent  an  Ibadite  deputy 
to  the  second  chamber  in  Constantinople;  also  in  East 
Africa  (Zanzibar).  The  Arabic  *Oman  is  the  motherland 
of  the  East  African  Ibadites.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the 
Kharijites,  living  far  from  the  international  traffic  in 
out  of  the  way  corners,  and  as  good  as  forgotten,  have 
in  recent  years  been  attempting  to  arouse  themselves 
to  energetic  activity  and  self-assertion.  Awakened  pos- 
sibly by  the  interest  of  European  scholars  in  their  litera- 
ture, a  fact  which  did  not  escape  them,  in  the  last  few 
years  they  have  allowed  a  number  of  their  theological 
documents  to  be  printed.  In  addition  to  this  they  have 
attempted  an  aggressive  propaganda  through  a  magazine 
of  which  apparently  only  a  few  numbers  have  appeared.^ ^ 

The  sect  of  the  Kharijites  is  therefore  to  be  regarded 
in  point  of  time  as  the  oldest  sectarian  split  within  Islam,  ^ 
remnants  of  which  still  exist  to-day  as  one  of  the  groups 
outside  of  usual  Sunna-orthodoxy,  among  the  followers 
of  Mohammed.    Its  history  represents  in  a  fairly  uncom- 


222  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

plicated  form  the  type  of  Moslem  sect;    the  inflow  of 
the  religious  point  of  view  into  the  civic  conflict. 

III.  Of  greater  importance  in  the  history  of  Islam  is 
the   sectarian  upheaval  due   to   the   opposition  of  the 

Shi4tes. 

It  is  an  elementary  fact  that  Islam  appears  in  two 
forms;  Sunnite  and  Snf  ite.  This  division,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  arose  through  the  question  of  succession. 
The  party,  which  even  during  the  first  three  caliphates 
secretly  recognized  the  rights  of  the  Prophet's  family, 
without,  however,  entering  upon  an  open  conflict  protested 
after  the  fall  of  their  pretenders,  against  the  usurpers  of 
the  later  non-^  Aliite  dynasties.  Their  opposition  was  first 
directed  against  the  Omayyads,  later,  however,  against  all 
succeeding  dynasties  who  did  not  tally  with  their  legiti- 
mistic  ideas.  To  all  their  disqualifications  they  oppose 
the  divine  right  of  the  descendants  of  the  Prophet 
through  the  children  of  *Ali  and  Fatima.  Thus,  as  they 
condemn  the  three  caliphs  who  preceded  ^Ali  as  impious 
usurpers  and  oppressors,  they  also  oppose  secretly,  or  if 
the  opportunity  for  strife  offers,  openly,  the  actual 
formation  of  the  Moslem  state  in  all  times  to  come. 

The  very  nature  of  this  protest  easily  led  to  a  form 
in  which  religious  factors  were  predominant.  In  place 
of  a  caliph  raised  to  the  supreme  rule  by  human  device, 
they  recognized  the  Imam  as  the  only  justifiable  worldly 
and  spiritual  leader  of  Islam,  divinely  called  and  ap- 
pointed to  this  office.  They  give  the  preference  to  the 
designation  Imam  as  more  in  accord  with  the  religious 
dignity  of  the  chief  recognized  as  such  by  virtue  of  his 
direct  descent  from  the  prophet. 

The  first  Imam  is  *  All.  Even  the  Sunnites,  questioning 
the  rights  of  his  predecessors,  consider  him  a  man  of 
unusual  virtue  and  wisdom.  Hasan  al-Basr!  calls  him 
''the  scholar  of  God  in  this  community. "^  The  Shi'ites 
raise  him  to  a  still  higher  position.    According  to  them, 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  223 

the  Prophet  entrusted  to  him  wisdom  which  he  with- 
held from  the  majority  of  his  less  worthy  ^'companions/' 
and  this  wisdom  his  family  inherits  (above  page  171). 
By  means  of  direct  ordinance  the  prophet  chose  him  as 
his  follower,  as  the  teacher  and  ruler,  and  formally  named 
him  for  this  position.  He  is  therefore  waslj  i.  e.,  the  one 
chosen  by  the  decree  of  the  prophet.  The  denial  of  this 
decree,  no  matter  in  whose  favor,  separates  in  principle 
the  orthodox  Sunnite  from  this  group  of  his  opponents.^ 
According  to  the  belief  of  the  latter,  *Ali  alone  may  lay 
claim  to  the  title  of  the  amir  al-mu^minln,  '*  ruler  of  the 
faithful,''^  a  title  which  the  rulers  of  all  the  dynasties 
have  borne  since  the  time  of  'Omar,  and  which  has  been 
corrupted  in  the  Western  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages 
in  the  forms  Miramolin,  Mira-Momelin,  Miramomelli.* 
The  qualified  successors  of  'Ali  as  Imam,  the  heir  of 
his  position  as  ruler  and  of  his  special  knowledge  and 
spiritual  qualities,  belong  only  to  his  direct  followers 
through  his  wife  Fatima,  i.  e.,  the  Prophet's  grandson 
Hasan,  then  Husein  and  then  the  successive  *Aliite 
Imams.  According  to  this,  each  successor  is  the  wasl 
of  his  predecessor  through  whom,  according  to  the  divine 
order,  an  express  decree  consecrates  him  as  the  legiti- 
mate bearer  of  the  divine  office.^  This  order  was  pre- 
ordained for  all  times  by  God  and  was  fixed  by  Moham- 
med as  a  divine  decree.^  This  pinnacle  of  exegetic 
arbitrariness  on  the  part  of  the  Shi'ites  endeavors  to  find 
a  support  even  in  utterances  of  the  Koran  in  which  this 
order  is  set  f  orth."^ 

Every  other  form  of  the  Caliphate,  accordingly,  is 
robbery  from  a  worldly  standpoint,  and  from  a  spiritual, 
the  withdrawal  of  the  only  authoritative  religious  guide 
for  the  community.  For  the  Imam  of  each  age  is 
authorized  and  qualified  by  extraordinary  quality  of 
infallibility  given  him  by  God,  to  guide  and  teach  the 
people  in  all  their  religious  affairs,  it  is  a  necessary  con- 


224  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

sequence  of  divine  justice  that  God  allows  no  community 
to  go  without  this  guidance.  The  presence  of  an  Imam 
is  imperative  for  every  age ;  for  without  such  an  enlight- 
ened person  the  goal  of  divine  law-giving  and  guidance 
would  be  unattainable.  The  Imamate  is  a  necessary 
institution  and  passes  down  in  unbroken  line  from  one 
member  of  the  legitimate  family  of  the  prophet  to  the 

other. 

It  happens  therefore  that  among  the  Shi^tes  the 
religious  point  of  view  soon  predominates  over  the 
political.  The  immediate  object  of  their  protests  there- 
fore was  the  Omayyad  dynasty  whose  behaviour,  quite 
apart  from  the  question  of  its  legitimacy,  was  a  constant 
offence  to  the  pietistic  circles.  Hence,  from  their  point 
of  view,  this  dynasty  placed  worldly  considerations  in 
the  foreground  instead  of  a  theocracy  as  conceived  by 
the  pious. 

Soon  after  the  rise  of  this  dynasty,  under  the  second 
ruler,  the  community  of  *Ali  supporters  found  the  very 
ill  chosen  opportunity  to  send  the  grandson  of  the 
prophet,  Husein,  into  the  bloody  battle  against  the  Omay- 
yad usurper.  The  battlefield  of  Kerbela  (680)  resulted 
in  a  great  number  of  martyrs,  the  mourning  for 
whose  memory  still  lends  a  sentimental  trait  to  their 
faith.  Soon  after,  the  Shi^ites,  under  the  banner  of 
Mukhtar,  met  again  unsuccessfully  the  victorious  Omay- 
yad power.  This  Mukhtar  had  brought  forward  as  an 
*  Aliite  pretender  a  son  of  ^  All  but  not  of  Fatima,  Moham- 
med, the  son  of  the  Hanifite;  an  early  sign  of  the 
internal  divisions  of  the  Shi'ites. 

IV.  Thus  do  the  Shi'ites  even  after  their  decisive 
defeat  carry  on  their  protest  and  battle  against  the 
order  of  things  recognized  by  the  Ijma*  of  the  Moslem 
state.  They  rarely  succeeded  in  unfurling  the  banner 
of  their  Imam  pretender,  and  even  when  they  did,  the 
attempt,  hopeless  from  the  beginning,  ended  in  unavoid- 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  225 

able  defeat.  In  the  hope  that  God  would  bring  about  a 
course  of  events  leading  to  public  success,  they  were 
forced  to  resign  themselves  to  outward  submission,  while 
secretly  doing  homage  to  the  Imam  of  each  age,  and 
endeavoring  to  hasten  his  day  of  victory  through 
secret  propaganda. 

Secret  organizations  arose  therefore,  which  under  the 
guidance  of  a  missionary  leader  dCi'l  spread  their  ideas 
among  the  masses.  They  were  naturally  watched  and 
checked  by  the  ruling  power;  in  fact  the  ^Aiiite  persecu- 
tions are  a  ceaseless  care  to  the  government,  which  is 
bound  to  see  in  this  secret,  revolutionary  propaganda,  a 
menace  to  the  peace  of  the  state.  The  'Abbasides 
recognized  this  even  more  clearly  than  the  ^Omayyads. 
It  was  in  fact  the  ^Allite  propaganda  under  the  latter 
which  made  possible  the  return  of  the  'Abbasides  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century  and  enabled  them  to  bring 
about  the  fall  of  the  Omayyads,  superinduced  by  Shi'ite 
intrigues.  Under  the  pretense  that  the  claims  of  the 
grandson  of  Mohammed  ibn  al-Hanafiyya  had  been  ceded 
to  them,  they  used  the  Shi4tes  for  their  own  ends.  After 
they  garnered  the  fruits  of  the  Shi'itic  propaganda  for 
their  own  preferment,  however,  they  had  to  take  all  the 
more  precautions  against  the  continued  agitation  of  those 
who  did  not  even  in  them  recognize  the  legitimate  suc- 
cessors of  the  prophet.  They  therefore  strove  to  alienate 
the  people  from  the  'All-cult.  Mutawakkil  razed  Husein's 
grave  to  the  ground.  The  people  should  not  be  allowed 
to  recall  in  this  consecrated  place,  that  it  was  not  a  scion 
of  the  'Abbas,  but  a  son  of  'Ali  who  bled  for  the  cause 
of  the  Prophet's  house.  Many  of  the  most  honorable 
'Allites,  as  well  as  those  who  belonged  to  the  line  of 
Imams,  were  pursued;  under  the  reign  of  the  'Abbasides 
many  ended  their  lives  in  a  prison,^  died  by  execution  or 
by  secret  poisoning.  Under  the  Caliph  al-Mahdi,  an  im- 
portant Shi'ite,  marked  because  of  his  devotion  to  'AIT, 


226  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

was  forced,  because  of  the  Caliph's  persecution,  to  keep 
himself  in  hiding  to  the  end  of  his  life.  His  life  was  in 
danger  even  if  he  dared  come  out  from  his  hiding  place 
to  attend  the  Friday  service  in  the  Mosque.^  Since  the 
'Abbasides  acknowledged  the  rights  of  the  Prophet's 
family  and  claimed  that  they  possessed  these  rights 
through  them,  such  opponents  appeared  even  more  dan- 
gerous to  the  claims  of  the  dynasty  than  formerly  when 
those  in  power  had  on  principle  disputed  the  rights  of  the 
''family.''  To  the  'Abbasides  it  was  therefore  much 
more  unbearable  to  be  opposed  on  the  ground  of  their 
legitimacy.^ 

An  inexhaustible  theme  of  Shrite  literature  are  the 
''Calamities  (nihan)  of  the  family  of  the  prophet."  This 
is  supposed  to  have  been  foretold  in  the  Hadith ;  and  in 
the  speeches  of  '  AJi  which  were  handed  down,  it  is  always 
a  question  of  the  bad  luck  which  awaits  his  followers.* 
One  of  these  clumsy  inventions  reports  that  'Ali  refused 
to  recognize  visitors  whom  his  gatekeeper  Kanbar  an- 
nounced as  adherents  (Shi' a),  because  he  did  not  see  in 
them  the  mark  of  recognition  of  the  Shi'ite.  True 
Shi'ites  are  to  be  known  because  their  bodies  are  emaci- 
ated through  want,  their  lips  dried  up  for  thirst,  and 
their  eyes  bleary  from  continual  weeping.^  The  true 
Shi'ite  is  persecuted  and  miserable  like  the  family  for 
whose  rights  he  struggles  and  suffers.  It  soon  came  to 
be  considered  a  requisite  of  the  prophet's  family  to 
suffer  need  and  persecution.  Tradition  provides  that 
every  true  descendant  of  the  prophet's  family  must  be 
afflicted  with  trials.  The  result  is  that  the  untroubled 
life  of  a  man  claiming  such  descent  would  arouse  suspi- 
cion as  to  the  authenticity  of  his  genealogy.^ 

Since  the  Kerbela  day  of  mourning,  the  history  of  this 
"family"  as  presented  by  the  Shi'ites  with  a  tragic 
tendency,  is  a  continual  succession  of  suffering  and  per- 
secution.   The  story  of  these  mishaps  told  in  poetry  and 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  227 

prose,  forms  a  rich  and  cherished  collection  of  martyr- 
ologies  (a  Shi4te  specialty)  which  constitutes  the  sub- 
ject of  their  gatherings  in  the  first  part  of  the  month  of 
Muharram,  the  tenth  day  of  which  is  the  anniversary  of 
the  Kerbela  tragedy^  The  tragic  occurrences  of  this 
day  are  represented  at  these  gatherings  in  dramatic 
form.  **Our  anniversaries  are  our  days  of  mourning"; 
with  these  words  a  prince,  with  Shi4te  tendencies,  closes 
a  poem  in  which  he  recalls  the  many  nihan  of  the 
prophet's  family.^  The  true  devotee  can  never  cease 
weeping,  bemoaning,  sorrowing  over  the  misfortunes  and 
persecutions  of  the  ^Aliite  family,  and  its  martyrdom. 
^^More  touching  than  Shi4te  tears''  has  become  an 
Arabic  proverb.^ 

Modern  Shi4tes  of  scientific  tendencies,  who  are  as 
keen  in  condemning  the  ^Omayyads  as  the  na'ivest  fol- 
lower of  'Ally  have  found  great  religious  strength  in  this 
mournful  note  sounded  by  their  faith.  They  find  in  it 
an  element  of  noble  feeling,  yes,  even  of  humanism  in 
contrast  to  the  ossified  law  and  its  practices.  It  repre- 
sents that  which  is  most  precious  and  human  in  Islam.^^ 
''To  weep  for  Husein,"  says  an  Indian  Shi'ite,  who  has 
written  books  on  philosophy  and  mathematics  in  English, 
''that  is  the  price  of  our  life  and  our  soul;  otherwise  we 
would  be  the  most  ungrateful  of  creatures.  Even  in 
paradise  we  would  mourn  over  Husein.  He  is  the  basis 
for  Moslem  existence."  "Mourning  for  Husein  is  the 
badge  of  Islam.  It  is  impossible  for  a  Shi'ite  not  to 
weep.  His  heart  is  a  living  grave,  the  true  grave  for  the 
head  of  the  beheaded  martyr.  "^^ 

V.  Considering  the  kind  of  work  Shi' ism  demands, 
and  the  dangers  connected  with  its  mission,  it  should  be 
characterized  as  a  propaganda  which  agitates  rather 
than  fights.  The  result  of  this  is  a  mysteriousness  and 
secretiveness  enjoined  upon  its  followers,  in  view  of  the 
dangers   to   its   followers   that  might   ensue   upon  the 


228  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

betrayal  of  its  holy  secrets.  According  to  the  sayings 
of  a  Shi^te  Imam,  the  two  angels  who  always  accompany 
a  man  in  order  to  record  his  words  and  deeds,  withdraw 
as  soon  as  two  believers  (i.  e.,  Shf  ite  partisans)  begin 
a  discussion.  The  Imam  Ja'far,  who  propounded  this, 
had  his  attention  drawn  to  the  contradiction  between  this 
saying  and  that  of  the  Koran  (Sura  50,  v.  17) :  *^Not  a 
word  doth  he  utter,  but  there  is  a  watcher  with  him  ready 
to  note  it  down.''  This  is  the  guardian  angel,  which 
hears  his  words!  The  Imam  then  drew  a  deep  sigh, 
tears  rolled  down  his  beard  and  he  said  ^'Indeed,  God 
for  the  sake  of  the  believers  has  commanded  the  angels 
to  leave  them  alone  in  their  tete  a  tete;  but  even  if  the 
angels  do  not  write  it  down,  God  knows  all  secret  and 
hidden  things.''^ 

The  continued  danger  in  which  the  members  of  the 
Shi^te  party  found  themselves  developed  an  ethical 
theory  among  them,  highly  characteristic  of  their  spirit, 
and  closely  allied  to  the  needs  arising  from  their  having 
to  act  continually  in  secret.  This  theory,  to  be  sure,  did 
not  originate  with  them,  for  it  was  recognized  by  the 
other  Moslems  as  supported  by  the  Koran  (Sura  3,  v.  27) 
and  in  the  case  of  the  IQiarijites  served  the  same  pur- 
pose. In  the  Shi4te  system,  however,  it  became  a  funda- 
mental teaching  imposed  upon  every  member  of  their 
circle  as  an  essential  duty  in  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. This  theory  is  contained  in  the  word  takiyya, 
which  means  '' caution.''  The  Shi'ite  not  only  may  but 
must  hide  his  true  faith;  when  in  a  gathering  where 
opponents  are  prevalent  he  must  speak  and  act  as  if  he 
were  one  of  them,  in  order  not  to  bring  danger  and 
persecution  on  his  fellow-believers.^  One  can  easily 
imagine  what  practice  of  equivocation  and  dissimulation 
this  tahiyya  entailed,  especially  since  it  is  a  fundamental 
rule  of  Shi4te  discipline.  The  inability  freely  to  express 
one's  true  convictions,  however,  is  also  a  discipline  in 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  229 

the  restraint  of  anger  against  the  powerful  opponents, 
which  issues  in  a  feeling  of  violent  hatred  and  fanati- 
cism ;  it  also  results  in  very  peculiar  religious  teachings 
quite  incongruous  with  orthodox  Islam.  The  Imam 
Ja^far  al-Sadik  was  once  asked:  ^^0,  grandson  of  the 
prophet,  I  am  unable  to  uphold  your  cause  publicly,  all 
I  can  do  is  inwardly  to  renounce  your  enemies,  and  to 
curse  them ;  what  then  am  I  worth  ? ' '  The  Imam  replied : 
*^My  father  in  the  name  of  his  father,  the  latter  in  the 
name  of  his  father  who  heard  the  teaching  directly 
from  the  mouth  of  the  prophet,  said  to  me:  He  who  is 
too  weak  to  assist  us,  the  family  of  the  prophet  to  victory, 
but  on  the  other  hand  hurls  curses  on  our  enemies  in 
private,  him  they  (the  angels)  praise  as  blessed  .  .  . 
and  they  pray  to  God  for  him:  ^0  God,  have  mercy  upon 
this  thy  servant,  who  does  all  which  he  can  do;  were 
he  able  to  do  more,  he  would  indeed  do  it/  And  from 
God  comes  the  answer:  ^I  have  heard  your  request,  and 
have  mercy  on  his  soul,  which  will  be  brought  to  me 
among  the  souls  of  the  chosen  and  good/'^  This  cursing 
of  the  enemy  is  a  religious  law  among  the  Shi'ites;  to 
neglect  it  is  a  sin  against  religion.*  This  attitude  has 
also  left  its  peculiar  mark  on  Shi4te  literature. 

VI.  The  Shi4te  system,  accordingly,  revolves  around 
this  theory  of  the  Imamate,  with  the  legitimate  succes- 
sion to  this  clique  of  men,  chosen  and  designated  by  God 
from  among  the  descendants  of  the  prophet.  The  recog- 
nition of  the  Imam  of  the  age,  whether  he  appears  pub- 
licly, known  personally  to  only  a  few,  or  makes  his  claims 
in  a  secret  propaganda,  is  as  much  of  an  article  of  reli- 
gion as  the  confession  of  the  one  Allah  and  his  prophet 
Mohammed,  in  fact  is  of  much  more  importance  than 
the  recognition  of  the  historical  caliphate  ever  claims  to 
be  in  the  orthodox  catechism. 

According  to  Shi'ite  dogma,  the  recognition  of  the 
Imam  is  not  an  appendix  of  dogmatic  nicety,  but  an  inte- 


230  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

gral  part  of  the  faith,  not  to  be  separated  from  the  high- 
est truths.  I  quote  a  Shi4te  dogmatist:  '^ Knowledge 
of  God  includes,  besides  the  recognition  of  God  and  his 
prophet,  inner  devotion  to  'AH,  as  well  as  the  practise 
of  obedience  to  him  and  to  the  Imams  (succeeding  him), 
and  the  repudiation  of  their  opponents:  thus  is  God 
recognized.  ..."  ''No  man  is  a  true  believer,  until  he 
recognizes  God,  his  prophet  and  all  Imams  including  the 
Imam  of  his  own  age,  and  until  he  submits  everything 
to  him,  and  completely  acquiesces  with  him.''^  Accord- 
ing to  ShI'ite  teaching  to  the  five  "fundamentals  of 
Islamic  faith''  (see  above  page  13)  is  added  a  sixth:  al 
wildya,  i.  e.,  adherence  to  the  Imam,  which  includes  sep- 
aration from  their  enemies.-  As  compared  to  all  other 
religious  duties,  this  one  is  the  most  important  in  the 
Shi'itic  faith,  "Love  for  'Ali  consumes  all  sins,  just  as 
fire  consumes  the  dry  wood.''^  This  view  forms  the 
centre  of  the  religious  character  of  Shr  ism.  The  Khari- 
jites  are  justified  in  characterising  this  as  ' '  the  fanatical 
sympathy  for  an  Arabic  clan,  carried  so  far  that  its 
faithful  believe  that  an  unlimited  devotion  to  it  releases 
man  from  all  good  works,  and  frees  him  from  the  punish- 
ment of  misdeeds."'^ 

VII.  In  order  to  understand  the  Shi'ite  belief  in  the 
Imam  it  is  necessary  to  emphasize  the  inherent  difference 
between  the  theocratic  rule  of  the  caliph  in  Sunnism  and 
that  of  the  legitimate  Imam  in  Shi' ism. 

For  Sunnite  Islam  the  caliph  exists  in  order  to  insure 
the  carrying  out  of  the  tasks  of  Islam,  in  order  to 
demonstrate  and  concentrate  in  his  person  the  duties 
of  the  Moslem  community.  "At  the  head  of  the  Mos- 
lems''— I  quote  the  words  of  a  Moslem  theologian — 
"there  must  stand  a  man  who  sees  that  its  laws  are  car- 
ried out,  that  its  boundaries  are  kept,  and  defended,  that 
its  armies  are  equipped,  that  its  obligatory  taxes  are 
raised,  that  the  violent  thieves  and  street  robbers  are 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  231 

suppressed,  that  assemblies  for  worship  are  instituted, 
that  the  booties  of  war  are  justly  divided,  and  other  such 
legal  necessities,  which  an  individual  in  the  community 
cannot  attend  to/'^  In  a  word,  he  is  the  representative 
of  the  judicial,  administrative  and  military  power  of  the 
state.  As  ruler,  he  is  none  other  than  the  successor  of 
his  predecessor,  chosen  by  human  act  (choice  or  nomina- 
tion by  his  predecessor),  not  through  special  qualities  of 
his  person.  The  caliph  of  the  Sunnites  is  in  no  sense  an 
authority  in  doctrine. 

The  Imam  of  the  Shi4tes  on  the  contrary  is  the  leader 
and  teacher  of  Islam  by  right  of  personal  qualities  given 
to  him  by  God,  he  is  the  Heir  of  the  Prophet's  min- 
ISTRY.2  jjg  rules  and  teaches  in  the  name  of  God.  Just 
as  Moses  could  hear  the  call  from  the  burning  bush:  *^I 
am  Allah,  the  Lord  of  the  world''  (Sura  28,  v.  30),  so  it 
is  the  direct  message  of  God  which  is  given  to  the  Imam 
of  each  age.^  The  Imam  possesses  not  only  the  char- 
acter of  a  representative  of  a  rule  sanctioned  by  God, 
but  also  supernatural  qualities,  raising  him  above  ordi- 
nary men  and  this  in  consequence  of  a  dignity  not 
accorded  to  him,  but  by  virtue  of  his  birth  and  rather  a 
consequence  of  his  substance. 

Ever  since  the  creation  of  Adam  a  divine  substance 
of  light  has  passed  from  one  chosen  successor  of  Adam 
to  the  next,  until  it  reached  the  loins  of  the  grandfather 
of  Mohammed  and  'All.  Here  this  divine  light  divided 
itself,  and  passed  in  part  to  'Abdallah,  the  father  of  the 
prophet,  and  in  part  to  his  brother  Abu  Talib,  the  father 
of  *Ali.  From  the  latter  this  divine  light  has  passed 
from  generation  to  generation,  to  the  present  Imam. 
The  presence  of  the  pre-existent  divine  light  in  the  sub- 
stance of  his  soul  makes  him  the  Imam  of  his  age  and 
gives  him  extraordinary  spiritual  powers  far  surpassing 
human  abilities.  His  soul-substance  is  purer  than  that 
of   ordinary  mortals,    ''free   from   evil   impulses,   and 


232  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

adorned  with  sacred  forms.''  This  is  more  or  less  the 
idea  which  moderate  Shr  ism  has  of  the  character  of  its 
Imam.  In  its  extreme  form  (as  we  shall  see)  'Ali  and 
the  Imam  are  raised  into  the  vicinity  of  the  divine  sphere, 
aye  into  its  very  midst.  Although  this  transcendental 
theory  is  not  clothed  in  definite,  uniform,  dogmatic  terms 
it  may  be  regarded  as  the  generally  recognized  Shi'ite 
view  of  the  character  of  the  Imams. 

Other  conceptions  are  linked  with  these.  Wlien  God 
commanded  the  angels  to  bow  down  before  Adam,  this 
adoration  was  intended  for  the  light  substances  of  the 
Imam  embodied  in  Adam.  After  this  adoration  God  told 
Adam  to  raise  his  eyes  to  the  heavenly  throne,  where  he 
saw  the  reflection  of  holy  light  bodies  ''just  as  the  face 
of  a  man  is  reflected  in  a^cellar  mirror. ' '  The  heavenly 
reflection  of  these  holy  bodies  was  thus  raised  up  to  the 
divine  throne.*  The  popular  superstition  did  not  stop 
with  such  apotheosis,  it  extended  the  effect  of  the  divine 
peculiarities,  which  are  within  the  body  of  the  Imam,  to 
his  earthly  being  also.  The  ShI'itic  populace,  for  in- 
stance, believed  that  the  body  of  the  Imam  casts  no 
shadows.  Such  views  as  these  naturally  arise  at  a  time 
when  there  was  no  visible  incorporation  of  the  Imam. 
The  Imam  Mahdi  was  also  supposed  to  be  invulnerable,^ 
though  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  trait  was  occa- 
sionally also  attributed  to  the  prophet^  in  the  Moslem 
hagiology  and  to  numerous  Marabouts'^,  especially  of 
North  Africa. 

VIII.  Not  merely  popular  belief,  but  theological 
theory  as  well,  has  lost  itself  in  the  maze  of  such  specula- 
tions regarding  the  character  of  Imam.  There  are 
extravagant  theories  within  Shi' ism,  which  regard  'AIT 
and  the  Imams  as  actual  incarnations  of  the  deity.  They 
are  not  merely  men  who  share  divine  attributes  and 
powers  which  raise  them  above  the  level  of  everyday  men, 
they  are  manifestations   of  the  di^dne  being  itself,  in 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  233 

whom  corporality  is  of  passing  and  purely  accidental 
moment.  In  the  account  of  Shi4te  sects  to  be  found  in 
the  polemic  and  religio-historical  literature  of  Islam  (Ibn 
Hazm,  Sha'hrastani,  etc.)  we  find  the  various  forms  of 
this  belief.  Its  adherents  are  still  to  be  met  with  in  a 
group  of  sects  whose  whole  name  'AU-ildhi  (worshippers 
of  ^All-God)  sufficiently  marks  the  characteristic  beliefs. 
Such  sects  combine  the  divinity  of  *A1I  with  the  setting 
aside  of  certain  parts  of  Moslem  law.  The  elevation  of 
^Ali  often  leads  in  such  heresies  (in  so  far  as  divinity  is 
not  attributed  to  Mohammed  also)  to  the  belittling  of  the 
prophet  in  favor  of  the  worshipping  of  ^Ali.  Some  went 
so  far  as  to  say  that  the  angel  Gabriel  might  have  made 
a  mistake  in  taking  God's  message  to  Mohammed  instead 
of  ^Ali  for  whom  it  was  intended.  A  group,  the  ^Ul- 
yaniyya,  were  also  called  Dammiyya,  i.  e.,  *  ^fault- 
finders/' for  they  accuse  the  prophet  of  usurping  the 
dignity  which  rightly  belongs  to  ^Ali.^  In  the  sect  of 
Nusairlj  which  we  shall  consider  again  at  the  end  of  the 
chapter,  Mohammed  is  subordinated  to  the  divine  ^Ali, 
and  regarded  merely  in  the  light  of  a  veil  (hijdb). 

Those  who  hold  such  views  are  known  even  to  the 
Shfites  as  ghulat,  i.  e.,  ^'exaggerators.''  They  go  back 
to  the  ancient  days  of  Islam  and  appear  at  the  same  time 
as  the  political  partisans  of  the  'Ali  family.  In  very  old 
Hadiths,  which  are  also  familiar  to  ShI'ite  circles,  'All 
and  his  followers  are  themselves  made  to  object  to  such 
overestimation,  which  could  serve  only  to  arouse  antipa-. 
thy  to  the  'Ali  family.^ 

On  the  other  hand  it  is  to  be  noted  that  these  exaggera- 
tions not  only  raise  'Ali's  position  and  that  of  his  suc- 
cessors, but  also  modify  decidedly  the  conception  of  God. 
The  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  of  the  divine  being  in 
the  persons  of  the  holy  family  of  'Allites  has  made  pos- 
sible in  these  circles  an  excessively  materialistic  idea  of 
the  divinity.     In  fact  it  has  led  to  purely  mythological 


234  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

views  which  take  away  from  their  adherents  the  last 
remnant  of  their  claim  to  oppose  themselves  and  their 
views  to  heathenism.  It  would  take  too  long  to  discuss 
here  in  detail  all  those  systems  which  arose  out  of  the 
Shfite  doctrine  of  incarnation,  adopting  the  name  of 
their  respective  founders,  Bayyaniya,  Mughiriyya,  etc. 
Suffice  it  to  refer  to  accessible  translations  of  this  section 
of  Islamic  literature*  which  will  furnish  abundant  evi- 
dence to  show  that  Shi4sm  was  a  fertile  soil  for  fos- 
tering absurdities  calculated  to  bring  about  the  total 
disintegration  and  decay  of  the  God-idea  in  Islam. 

IX.  Among  the  extravagant  views  that  thus  arose  and 
among  which  an  impartial  judgment  must  include  the 
Imam  theory  of  the  average  Shfite,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Sinlessness  and  Infallibility  of  the  Imams  assumed  a 
rigid  dogmatic  form.  It  is  one  of  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Shi4te  Islam. 

Even  in  orthodox  Islam  much  stress  is  laid  on  the 
question  as  to  whether  the  prophets,  by  virtue  of  their 
prophetic  character,  were  sinless  and  especially  whether 
this  immunity  held  good  for  the  last  and  greatest 
prophet.  The  affirmative  answer  to  this  question  is 
obligatory  on  every  believing  Moslem.^  But  it  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  importance  of  this  dogmatic  teaching 
that  the  greatest  diversity  has  existed  since  ancient 
times  among  the  leading  authorities  as  to  its  formulation. 
For  example,  they  are  not  agreed  as  to  w^hether  this  Im- 
munity goes  back  to  the  period  preceding  the  prophetic 
call,  or  whether  it  begins  at  the  time  when  the  divine  mes- 
sage is  imparted.  Orthodox  dogmatists  also  disagree  con- 
cerning the  question  whether  the  sinlessness  granted  to 
the  prophet  covers  only  the  capital  sins,  or  whether  it 
includes  all  kinds  of  transgressions.  Many  restrict  this 
privilege  to  the  first  class  of  sins,  while  they  grant  that 
the  prophets  were  subject  as  other  mortals  to  venial 
sins,  or  at  least  '^stumbling''   (zalal) ;  they  ^^ sometimes 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  235 

indeed  choose  the  less  desirable  of  two  possible  kinds  of 
actions."  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  an  effort  was 
made  to  except  John  the  Baptist  (in  the  Koran  Yahya 
ibn  Zakariyya),  contending  that  he  never  sinned,  nor 
even  meditated  a  misdeed — ^but  this  Hadith  found  little 
f avor.^  Opinions  differ  very  little,  however,  with  regard 
to  the  sinlessness  of  Mohammed.  Sins  great  and  small 
had  no  part  in  his  life  before  as  well  as  after  his  calling 
as  a  prophet.  This  view  holds  in  spite  of  the  view  of 
the  oldest  adherents  of  Islam  who  attribute  to  the 
Prophet  the  acknowledgment  of  sinfulness  and  need  of 
penitence:  ^^Return  to  God  (perform  penance)  for  I 
return  a  hundred  times  a  day.''^  ^^My  heart  is  often  sad 
and  I  ask  pardon  from  God  a  hundred  times  a  day."^ 
In  agreement  with  this  is  the  assumption  on  the  basis 
of  which  the  following  prayer  of  the  Prophet  has  been 
handed  down.  '^My  Lord  accept  my  repentance,  and 
grant  my  request  and  wash  away  my  sin  (haubati)  and 
give  power  to  my  proof  and  guide  my  heart,  and 
strengthen  my  tongue  and  take  aU  hatred  from  my 
heart.  "^  Were  the  belief  in  sinlessness  established,  the 
prophet  would  not  be  made  to  speak  and  pray  thus,  nor 
would  he  himself  in  the  Koran  (Sura  48,  v.  2)  in 
the  proud  anticipation  of  his  imminent  victory,^  have 
revealed  the  words :  ' '  in  order  that  he  may  forgive  him 
(the  Prophet)  all  his  sins,  the  earlier  and  the  later. ''^ 

The  main  point  involved  from  the  dogmatical  point  of 
view  is  the  general  agreement  among  the  various  ortho- 
dox views  concerning  the  sinlessness  of  the  prophets 
and  especially  of  Mohammed  that  this  ethical  privilege 
is  to  be  regarded  as  a  grace  granted  by  God  to  the 
Prophet  as  a  necessary  attribute,  not,  however,  as  inher- 
ent in  the  substance  of  the  Prophet  from  his  birth.  Nor 
does  the  question  of  theoretical  infallibility  ever  enter 
as  a  doctrine  in  Sunni  dogmatics.  The  human  limitation 
of  the  Prophet  rather,  is  brought  forward  so  emphatically 


236  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

that  a  supernatural  knowledge  would  in  itself  appear 
irreconcilable  with  the  fundamental  conception  of  his 
character.  As  with  his  sinlessness  so  with  his  excess  of 
knowledge  as  compared  to  other  men,  this  latter  is  not 
a  conunon  virtue  inherent  in  his  person,  but  the  result 
of  information  imparted  to  him  by  God  from  case  to 
case.  His  truthfulness  is  accepted  in  order  to  recognize 
as  divine  all  messages  which  he  offers  as  such.  And  his 
office  as  prophet  is  founded  solely  on  his  election  as  inter- 
preter by  the  divine  will,  not  on  personal  disposition. 
He  does  not  bring  into  his  power  as  prophet  intellectual 
privileges  which  raise  him  above  the  niveau  of  human 
knowledge.  In  the  Koran  he  gives  frank  expression  to  this 
view  which  is  strictly  maintained  in  the  views  developed 
on  the  basis  of  tradition  by  the  theologians  of  the  earlier 
generations.  In  reply  to  his  opponents  who  were  desir- 
ous of  placing  the  Prophet  in  an  embarrassing  position 
by  questioning  him  on  matters  of  which  he  knew  nothing 
Mohammed  would  say,  '^Wliy  do  you  ask  me  about 
things  which  I  can  know  nothing  about?  I  am  only  a 
man  and  know  only  what  my  God  allows  me  to  know."^ 
For  the  orthodox  the  view  that  anyone  but  God  can  know 
the  secret  things,  is  heresy  to  the  utterance  of  the  Koran 
(Sura  27,  v.  66) ;  *^No  one  in  heaven  and  earth  knows 
the  hidden,  except  God.'^  The  Prophet  himself  is 
included  in  this  negation,^  how  much  more  then  others  ? 

The  Sunnis  have  a  great  respect  for  the  pious  and 
learned  people  descended  from  the  prophet;  they  are 
the  Imams  of  the  Shi'ites.  But  they  do  not  attribute  to 
them  any  other  personal  attributes  than  they  do  to  other 
scholars  and  pietists  of  Islam.  Wlien,  for  example,  a 
Sunni  theologian  called  al-Bakir,  who  is  ^ve  degrees 
removed  from  the  great-grandson  of  the  prophet,  speaks 
of  Mohammed,  he  pays  his  respects  to  his  great  learn- 
ing, to  which  he  owed  the  epithet  of  ^Hhe  cleaver'' 
(al-bakir),  and  he  praises  his  exemplary  piety  and  devo- 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  237 

tion  to  God.  But  in  thus  characterizing  him  he  merely 
says:  ''He  was  an  excellent  man  of  the  generation  of 
the  'successors'  (tabi'i  those  who  came  after  the  gen- 
eration of  the  " Companions '')>  a  leading  Imam  (in  the 
sense  of  a  "learned  man")  concerning  whose  excellence 
there  is  general  agreement;  he  is  included  among  the 
Fukaha  (learned  in  law)  of  the  city  of  Medina. ''^^  How 
ditferently  the  Shi'ites  characterized  this  individual 
whom  they  regarded  as  their  Fifth  Imam.  To  them  he 
is  not  simply  a  lawyer  from  Medina,  but  a  sharer  of 
the  stainless  light-substance  of  the  Prophet's  family. 
Even  the  Shi'ite  who  has  already  been  mentioned,  a 
modern  soul,  who  writes  in  English  and  is  permeated 
with  rationalistic  ideas,  alludes  to  Husein  for  example  as 
"primordial  cause  of  existence''  .  .  .  "this  essential 
connection  between  cause  and  effect"  .  .  .  "the  golden 
link  between  God  and  man."^^ 

The  orthodox  Sunni  estimate  of  the  prophet  and  his 
holy  successors  is  not  affected  by  fairy-like,  childish  con- 
ceptions with  which  fancy  clothed  the  prophet,  but  which 
never  formed  an  element  of  obligatory  belief.  The 
mystic  al-Sha'rani  has  a  whole  chapter  in  which  the  fol- 
lowing traits  are  ascribed  to  the  prophet  and  others: 
"He  could  see  behind  him  as  well  as  in  front  of  him,  he 
also  possessed  the  gift  of  sight  in  the  dark;  if  he 
approached  a  man  who  was  naturally  taller  than  he, 
he  attained  the  latter 's  height,  when  sitting  he  was  head 
and  shoulders  above  those  around  him;  his  body  never 
cast  a  shadow,  for  it  was  full  of  light.  "^^  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  such  views  are  developed  under  the 
influence  of  the  extravagant  theories  which  the  Shi'ites 
had  formed  with  regard  to  their  Imams.  The  prophet 
naturally  could  not  be  regarded  as  inferior  to  these 
Imams,!^— a  further  proof,  therefore  for  the  manner  in 
which  Sufiism  attached  itself  to  Shi'itic  ideas,  to  which 
we  have  already  alluded. 


238  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

X.  In  Shi4tic  Islam  all  these  questions  gain  quite 
another  significance.  They  raise  the  attributes  ascribed 
to  the  soul  of  the  Imam  above  the  measure  of  human 
nature— as  we  have  already  seen,  *'By  virtue  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  free  from  evil  impulses. ''  They  are  not 
accessible  to  sin;  the  divine  light-substance  which  they 
harbor,  could  not  unite  with  sinful  inclinations.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  affords  the  highest  degree  of  true 
knowledge,  complete  Infallibility.^  The  Shfites  teach 
that  utterances  which  can  be  traced  back  to  the  Imam 
through  the  medium  of  reliable  tradition,  furnish 
stronger  evidence  than  the  immediate  data  of  our  senses. 
Owing  to  the  infallibility  of  their  originators  such  tradi- 
tions are  absolutely  reliable,  while  the  latter  are  exposed 
to  appearances  and  illusions.-  In  addition  to  the  reli- 
gious knowledge  within  the  reach  of  all  Moslems  the 
Imams  possess  a  secret  knowledge  which  comes  down 
through  their  line,  an  apocalyptic  tradition  which  is 
inherited  by  the  sacred  family  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, and  which  includes  all  the  truths  of  religion 
as  well  as  all  worldly  happenings.  *A1I  knew  not  only 
the  true  meaning  of  the  Koran,  hidden  from  the  common 
understanding,  but  also  everything  which  would  happen 
till  the  judgment  day.  Every  revolution  which  up 
till  then  ^^  would  send  a  hundred  on  the  wrong  path  and 
a  hundred  on  the  right,"  was  known  to  him;  he  knew 
who  would  be  their  leaders  and  agitators.^  The  belief 
in  this  secret  prophetic  knowledge  of  *  All's  gave  his 
followers  the  opportunity  to  invent  peculiar  literary 
productions  supposed  to  contain  these  secret  revelations.* 

^Ali's  knowledge  is  inherited  as  a  secret  tradition  by 
the  Imams  succeeding  him.  They  also  are  inspired  and 
can  proclaim  only  truth.  They  are  therefore  the  only  and 
highest  authority  in  doctrine  and  therefore  the  legitimate 
successors  of  the  prophetic  office.  Only  their  sayings  and 
decisions  can  command  unbounded  belief  and  obedience. 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  239 

All  religious  teachings,  accordingly,  in  order  to  be  recog- 
nized as  authentic  must  be  traced  back  to  one  of  the 
Imams.  This  manner  of  verifying  all  teachings  pre- 
dominates in  Shl4te  religious  literature.  The  spring  of 
all  Hadith  sayings  is  not  the  ''Companion,''  who  heard 
them  from  the  Prophet,  but  the  Imam  who  is  the  sole 
authority  in  the  proclamation  and  interpretation  of  the 
will  of  God  and  of  the  Prophet.  A  special  Koran  exegesis 
has  grown  up  which  goes  back  to  the  Imams.  In  this 
exegesis  the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  trivial 
matter  is  considered  in  its  relation  to  its  association  with 
the  Imam  theory  and  to  other  ShI'ite  doctrines.  The 
knowledge  of  this  literature  is  essential  to  a  thorough 
penetration  into  the  spirit  of  Shi'ism.^ 

We  may  conclude  from  all  this  that  many  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  Sunni  theology  recognizes  as  revealing  what 
is  right  and  true  from  a  religious  standpoint  are  belittled 
by  the  Shi'ites,  because  of  the  stress  which  they  lay  on 
the  sources  of  knowledge.  Even  the  Ijma'  here  sinks  to 
the  level  of  a  mere  formality.  The  influence  which  this 
principle  has  upon  the  decision  of  religious  questions  is 
theoretically  granted,  but  the  significance  of  the  con- 
sensus consists,  according  to  Shi'itic  theology,  in  the 
recognition  that  it  could  never  have  been  brought  about 
without  the  direct  cooperation  of  the  Imams.  It  is  this 
integral  element  alone  which  gives  that  principle  its  im- 
portance. For  that  matter  historical  experience  does 
not  point  to  the  Ijma'  as  the  test  of  truth.  If  the  Sunnis 
on  the  one  hand  depend  for  their  recognition  of  the  his- 
torical caliphate  upon  the  consensus  of  the  true  believers, 
which  after  the  death  of  the  prophet  called  forth  and 
sanctioned  the  Moslem  form  of  state  then  existing;  the 
Shi'ites,  on  the  other  hand,  find  in  that  same  fact  a  proof 
that  the  simple  Ijma'  is  not  always  coextensive  with  the 
principle  of  truth  and  righteousness.  In  the  decision  of 
the  question  of  the  Caliph,  according  to  the  Sunnis,  the 


240  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Ijma'  sanctified  injustice  and  violence.  In  this  way  this 
collective  authority,  therefore,  is  depreciated  or  is  con- 
fined to  the  agreement  of  the  Imams 

If  we  wish  to  characterize  concisely  the  basic  differ- 
ence between  Sunnites  and  Shi4tes  we  might  say:  the 
former  is  a  church  based  on  an  Ijma%  the  latter  on 
authority.^ 

XI.     It  has  already  been  noted  that  even  in  the  earliest 
days  of  the  development  of  the  Imam  theory  there  was 
no  agreement  among  the  Shf  ite  community  as  to  the 
personalities  of  the  Imam.     One  of  the  earliest  mani- 
festations of  Shi'ite  idea  as  we  have  seen  (page  224) 
appeared   in   connection  with   an   Imam   who   did   not 
trace    his    descent    from    the    Fatimide    line    of    ^Ali. 
And    even   within    the    Fatimide    descendants    various 
groups  of  ^Ali  adherents  have  set  up  quite  distinct  lines 
of  Imams — a  divergence  due  to  the  numerous  ramifica- 
tions of  the  ^Ali  family.    After  the  death  of  the  Imam 
Abu  Muhammed  al-'Askari,  the  Shi'ites  were  alreadv 
split  into  about  fourteen  divisions,^   each  claiming  the 
privilege  of  direct  descent  from  'All.-     The  series  of 
Imams   most   widely   recognized    at    the    present   time 
among  the  Shi4tes  is  that  set  up  by  the  sect  of  the 
so-called  ' '  Twelvers ' '  ( or  Imamites ) .    According  to  them 
^Airs  rank  as  Imam  was  directly  inherited  by  ^  Visible'^ 
Imams,  up  to  the  eleventh,  whose  son,  Muhammed  Abu-1- 
Kasim  (born  in  Baghdad  872),  was  removed  from  the 
earth  when  scarcely  eight  years  old,  and  since  then  lives 
hidden  from  the  sight  of  men,  in  order  to  appear  at  the 
end  of  time  as  the  Imam  Mahdl,  the  saviour,  to  free  the 
world  from  injustice  and  to  set  up  the  kingdom  of  peace 
and  justice.    This  is  the  so-called  '' hidden  Imam,''  who 
has  lived  on  ever  since  his  disappearance,  and  whose  reap- 
pearance is  daily  awaited  by  the  faithful  Shi^te.     This 
belief  in  a  hidden  Imam  is  to  be  found  in  all  branches 
of  Shi^ism.    Each  one  of  the  parties  believe  in  the  con- 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  241 

tinued  existence  and  ultimate  appearance  of  that  Imam 
who  in  the  special  order  of  Imams  is  regarded  as  the  last. 

The  various  parties  based  their  belief  in  the  continued 
existence  of  the  final  Imam  who  is  to  reappear,  on 
supposedly  authoritative  utterances  which,  however, 
were  invented  as  a  support  for  the  belief.  An  example 
of  the  nature  of  such  proof  is  to  be  found  in  a  saying, 
put  in  the  mouth  of  Musa  al-Kazim  (d.  183/799)  the 
seventh  Imam  of  the  Twelvers,  but  regarded  by  this 
party  as  the  ''Hidden  One,''  who  will  eventually  reap- 
pear. ''Whoever  shall  say  to  thee  that  he  nursed  me 
in  my  illness,  washed  my  dead  body,  embalmed,  wrapped 
me  in  shrouds  and  lowered  me  into  the  grave,  and  that 
he  shook  the  dust  of  my  grave  from  his  feet,  him  thou 
canst  declare  to  be  a  liar.  If  (after  my  disappearance) 
any  one  asks  about  me,  answer:  he  lives,  thank  God; 
cursed  be  anyone  who  is  questioned  about  me,  and 
answers :  he  is  dead. '  '^ 

The  "Return"  is  therefore  one  of  the  decisive  factors 
in  the  Imam  theory  of  all  subdivisions  of  the  Shi'ites; 
they  differ  only  in  regard  to  the  person  and  order  of  the 
hidden  and  returning  Imam.* 

From  the  very  beginning,  those  who  set  their  hopes 
on  'All  and  his  successors,  held  the  firm  conviction  that 
the  Imam  who  had  disappeared  would  eventually  return. 
This  belief  was  attached  in  the  first  place  to  'All  him- 
self by  a  group  of  adherents  who  were  followers  of 
'Abdallah  ibn  Saba.  They  regarded  him  even  during  his 
lifetime  as  a  supernatural  being  and,  refusing  to  believe 
in  his  death,  were  convinced  (in  a  docetic  manner)  of 
his  ultimate  return.  This  is  the  oldest  testimony  to  the 
extravagant  'Ali  cult  and  indeed  the  first  manifestation 
of  Shi'ite  schism.^  The  next  person  to  be  regarded  as 
a  vanishing  Imam  who  would  some  day  return,  was 
'All's  son,  Mohammed  ibn  al-Hanafiyya,  whose  adher- 
ents were  convinced  of  his  continued  existence,  and  his 
reappearance. 


242  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

The  idea  of  the  ''Return''  is  not  of  itself  an  original 
doctrine.  Probably  this  belief  came  over  into  Islam 
through  Judaic  Christian  influences.^  The  prophet  Elias, 
removed  to  heaven  to  reappear  at  the  end  of  time  to 
reestablish  the  rule  of  justice  on  the  earth,  is  evidently 
the  prototype  of  the  removed  and  ''invisible  Imams'' 
who  are  to  reappear  as  Mahdis  bringing  salvation  to  the 
world. 

Similar  beliefs  and  eschatological  hopes  attached  to 
them  are  to  be  found  in  numerous  other  circles.  The 
sect  of  Dositheites  did  not  believe  in  the  death  of  their 
founder  Dositheos,  but  clung  to  the  conviction  of  his 
survival."^  According  to  the  belief  of  the  Indian  Vaish- 
navas,  at  the  end  of  the  present  world  period  Vishnu 
incarnate  as  Kalkhi  will  appear,  in  order  to  free  the 
land  of  the  Arians  from  their  oppressors  by  which  are 
meant  the  Islamic  conquerors.  The  Abyssinian  Chris- 
tians look  for  the  return  of  their  Messianic  king  Theo- 
dorus.^  Among  the  Mongolian  people  the  belief  is  still 
prevalent,  that  Jengiskhan,  at  whose  grave  sacrifices 
are  brought,  announced,  before  his  death,  that  in  eight 
or  ten  centuries  he  would  reappear  on  earth  to  free  the 
Mongols  from  the  foreign  yoke  of  the  Chinese.^  Within 
Islam  heresies  arose,  which  after  the  failure  of  the  move- 
ments inaugurated  by  them,  clung  to  the  reappearance 
of  their  founder.  The  followers  of  Bihafrid,  who  at  the 
beginning  of  the  'Abbaside  period  attempted  a  Parsee 
reaction  against  Islam,  believe  after  his  execution  that 
their  leader  who  had  ascended  into  heaven  would  reap- 
pear on  earth  to  take  revenge  on  his  enemies.^ *^  The 
same  belief  was  held  about  al-Mukanna',  the  "veiled 
one,"  who  appeared  as  a  divine  incarnation  after  he 
had  sought  a  voluntary  death^^  by  fire. 

Up  till  comparatively  modern  times  this  phase  of  belief 
has  sustained  itself  among  Moslem  groups  standing 
outside  of  the  Shi'itic  circle.    The  Moslems  in  the  Cau- 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  243 

casus  believe  in  the  return  of  their  hero  Elija  Mansur, 
a  forerunner  of  Shamil  (1791),  who  is  to  reappear  a 
hundred  years  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Muscovites.^ ^ 
In  Samarkand  the  people  believe  in  the  reappearance  of 
the  sacred  persons  of  Shah-zinde  and  Kasim  ibn '  Abbas.^^ 
Just  as  among  the  Kurds  we  find  from  the  eighth  cen- 
tury after  the  Hijra  the  belief  in  the  return  of  the 
executed  Taj  al-^arifin  (Hasan  ibn  ^Adi).^^ 

But  among  similar  beliefs  arising  from  the  hope  of  a 
political  or  religious  restoration  among  eastern  and 
western  peoples,  the  belief  of  the  Shi'ites  in  the  hidden 
and  returning  Imam  has  been  most  effectively  developed. 
The  theological  basis  and  defence  of  this  belief  against 
the  scorn  of  the  doubter  and  opponent,  forms  a  prominent 
feature  of  their  religious  literature.  Quite  recently, 
a  work  has  appeared  in  Persia  aiming  to  strengthen 
the  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  hidden  ^^Imam  of  the 
age,"  against  increasing  scepticism. 

Just  as  many  Jewish  theologians  and  mystics  have 
endeavored  to  compute  the  exact  time  of  the  appearance 
of  the  Messiah  (based  largely  on  the  book  of  Daniel),  so 
Sufiites  and  Shf  ites  have  calculated  by  means  of  caba- 
listic use,  verses  of  the  Koran  and  numerical  combinations 
of  letters  of  the  alphabet,  the  exact  time  of  the  reappear- 
ance of  the  hidden  Imam.  Treatises  dealing  with  such 
calculations  are  enumerated  in  the  bibliographies  of  the 
older  Shi4tic  literature.  But  just  as  in  Judaism  the 
** calculators  of  the  end  of  time''  as  they  are  called, 
encountered  severest  reproaches,  so  the  orthodox  authori- 
ties of  the  moderate  Shf  ites  have  branded  '^the  time 
determiners''  (al-wakkatun)  as  liars,  and  have  found 
in  utterances  of  the  Imams  the  condemnation  of  such 
speculations.  The  disillusiomnent  resulting  from  the 
failure  of  such  computations  easily  shows  the  dejection 
which  such  definite  promises  brought  about. 

XII.     While  the  belief  in  the  ultimate  appearance  of  a 


244  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Messiah  is  more  specifically  a  doctrine  of  SM^tic  Islam, 
it  must  be  recognized  that  even  the  followers  of  orthodox 
Sunna  did  not  stand  aloof  from  the  belief  in  a  Redeemer 
to  appear  at  the  end  of  time,  and  whdm  they  themselves 
recognized  as  the  Imam  ^^Mahdi,''  i.  e.,  as  the  one  guided 
by  God  on  the  right  way.^  This  hope  voices  the  long- 
ing in  the  pious  circles  of  Islam  for  relief  from  political 
and  economic  conditions  against  which  their  religious 
consciousness  rebelled. 

Public  life  and  its  relations  appeared  to  them  a  breach 
with  the  ideal  claims  maintained  by  them,  as  a  continu- 
ous offence  against  religious  and  social  justice.  They, 
while  admitting  that  the  Moslem  must  not  ^^  split  the 
staff,''  in  the  interest  of  the  unity  of  the  community, 
submit  to  the  ruling  injustice  as  a  divine  decree  and 
suffer  existing  ills.  They  were  prompted  by  their  feel- 
ings towards  a  reconciliation  between  existing  conditions 
with  the  demands  of  their  faith.  The  hope  in  the 
Mahdi  furnished  the  point  of  departure  of  such  a  recon- 
ciliation.^ The  proof  has  been  furnished  that  the  first 
stage  of  this  hope  coincides  with  the  expectations  of 
the  Second  Advent  of  Jesus,  who  as  Mahdi  will  bring 
about  the  restoration  of  justice  and  order  in  the  world. 
In  the  course,  however,  of  the  further  development  of 
the  hope,  the  eschatological  activities  of  Jesus  became 
merely  an  accompanying  phenomenon.  Those  inclined 
to  a  realistic  view  conceded  occasionally  that  the 
hopes  of  the  Mahdi  were  brought  nearer  to  fulfillment 
through  certain  rulers  from  whom  the  restoration  of 
divine  justice  was  expected.  Much  was  hoped  for  in 
this  respect,  after  the  overthrow  of  the  '  Omayyads,  from 
certain  rulers  of  the  'Abbaside  dynasty.  This  idle 
dream,  however,  was  soon  dispelled.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
pious,  the  world  remained  as  base  as  before.  The  Mahdi 
idea  consequently  began  to  take  the  form  of  a  Mahdi 
Utopia,   whose   realization   was    removed   into    a   hazy 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  245 

future,  which  encouraged  the  steady  growth  of  crude 
eschatological  embellishments.  God  will  stir  up  a  man 
from  the  family  of  the  prophet,  who  will  restore  the  dis- 
organized work,  fill  the  world  with  justice,  as  it  is  now 
filled  with  injustice.  To  the  Judaic  Christian  elements 
to  which  the  Mahdi  belief  owes  its  origin  there  were 
added  features  taken  from  the  Parsee  picture  of  Saosh- 
yaht,  and  in  addition  the  irresponsible  phantasy  of  idle 
speculation  contributed  its  share  to  produce  a  rich  Mahdi 
mythology.  The  Hadith  seized  upon  this  material  which 
formed  the  subject  of  so  much  discussion  among  the 
circle  of  the  believers.  To  the  prophet  himself  there 
was  attributed  a  detailed  description  of  the  personality 
of  the  Redeemer  proclaimed  by  him.  While  such  tradi- 
tions were  excluded  from  conscientious  collections  they 
were  taken  up  and  repeated  by  those  who  were  less 
scrupulous. 

In  the  course  of  the  history  of  Islam  this  belief  was 
well  calculated  to  serve  the  political  religious  rebels  as 
a  justification  for  their  aspirations  to  bring  about  the 
overthrow  of  existing  conditions,  as  well  as  to  secure  for 
the  representatives  of  the  Mahdi  idea  great  popularity, 
and  to  promote  a  spirit  of  unrest  in  extended  portions  of 
the  Islamic  world.  Such  occurrences  are  familiar  to  us 
through  recent  occurrences  in  the  history  of  Islam.  For 
even  at  the  present  time  claimants  for  the  post  of  Mahdi 
have  appeared  in  various  parts  of  Islam,  chiefly  to  oppose 
the  growing  influence  of  European  states  on  Moslem 
territory.^  We  are  indebted  to  Martin  Hartmann  for 
interesting  accounts  of  present  tendencies  in  the  Turkish 
world,  from  which  it  appears  that  in  many  circles  the 
confident  hope  is  held  in  the  advent  of  the  true  Mahdi 
(fixed  for  1355,  i.  e.,  1936),  who  will  subject  the  whole 
world  to  Islam,  and  with  whom  the  ' '  golden  age '  '^  will  be 
inaugurated.  Shi4sm,  by  virtue  of  its  principles,  is  well 
adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  these  hopes  in  the  Mahdi. 


246  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

From  the  very  beginning  Shi' ism  represents  tlie  protest 
against  the  violation  and  suppression  of  divine  justice 
which  runs  through  the  entire  history  of  Islam,  marked 
by  the  exclusion  of  the  family  of  ^All  from  the  universal 
rule  to  which  they  are  alone  entitled.  The  Mahdi  doctrine 
thus  becomes  the  vital  nerve  of  the  entire  Shi'itic  system. 
Among  the  Sunnis  the  expectation  of  a  Mahdi,  despite 
its  authorization  in  tradition  and  its  theological  elabora- 
tion,^ never  became  a  fixed  dogma,  but  appeared  as 
mythological  elaboration  of  the  .future  ideal,  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  orthodox  system.  Sunni  Islam  emphatically 
rejects  the  Sh^itic  form  of  this  belief.  It  ridicules  the 
long-lived,  hidden  Imam.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  Sunnis 
to  regard  the  claim  of  the  '^ Twelvers''  as  absurd,  because 
according  to  Sunni  tradition  the  Mahdi  must  bear  the 
very  same  name  as  the  prophet  (M.  ibn  'Abdallah), 
whereas  the  father  of  this  hidden  Imam,  i.  e.,  the  eleventh 
visible  Imam,  bore  the  name  Hasan.^  Besides  since  the 
Shi'itic  Mahdi  disappeared  as  a  child,  he  is  disqualified 
canonically  by  virtue  of  his  immaturity  from  the  dignity 
of  Imam,  which  can  only  be  accorded  to  an  *^adulf 
{bdligh).  Others  even  deny  the  existence  of  a  surviving 
son  of  Hasan  al-^  Askari. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  belief  in  an  ultimate  fulfilment 
of  the  Mahdi  hope  is  of  prime  dogmatic  significance  in 
Shl^itic  Islam.  It  forms  the  backbone  of  the  Shi4te 
system  and  is  completely  identical  with  the  return 
{raja')  of  the  hidden  Imam  into  the  visible  world,  and 
who  as  the  new  law-giver  is  to  take  up  the  work  of  the 
prophet  and  to  restore  the  rights  of  his  family.  He  alone 
can  fill  the  world  with  right  and  justice.  Sober-minded 
Shi'itic  scholars,  in  answer  to  the  taunts  of  the  Sunnites, 
make  a  serious  endeavor  to  prove  physiologically  and  his- 
torically the  possibility  of  his  extraordinary  long  life.''' 

Even  during  his  bodily  absence  the  hidden  Imam  is 
the  genuine   ^ deader  of  the  time''   and  not  without  the 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  247 

power  to  manifest  Ms  will  to  believers.^  He  is  the 
object  of  extravagant  paeans  on  the  part  of  the  faithful, 
who  not  only  praise  and  flatter  him  as  a  potentate  among 
the  living,  but  also  apply  to  him  the  superhuman  epithets 
commensurate  with  belief  in  him  as  the  hidden  Imam. 
According  to  them  he  surpasses  even  the  high  intellect 
of  the  spheres  in  spiritual  greatness ;  he  is  the  source  of 
all  knowledge  and  the  goal  of  all  longing.  The  ShT^tic 
poets  are  firmly  convinced  that  such  praises  reach  the 
hidden  throne  of  the  sublime  personality  of  the  Imam.^ 

A  remarkable  proof  of  the  active  force  still  attached 
in  Shi4tic  circles  to  the  belief  in  the  hidden  Imam  is 
furnished  by  recent  events  in  Persia,  where,  upon  the 
introduction  of  a  new  constitution,  ^'the  consent  and 
approval  of  the  Imam  of  the  time''  was  invoked.  The 
authority  of  this  invisible  power  is  thus  recognized  as 
supreme  in  religious  and  political  affairs.  Every  inno- 
vation must  submit  to  the  approval  of  his  authority, 
even  though  this  be  only  a  matter  of  form.  Thus 
we  find  the  revolutionary  party  in  Persia  declaring  in 
an  ^^ appeal  to  the  public,''  issued  in  October,  1908,  for 
the  restoration  of  parliamentary  government  after  the 
coup  d  'etat  of  Shah  Mohammed  ^  Ali,  as  follows : ' '  You  are 
perhaps  not  aware  of  the  clear  and  undisputed  decision 
of  the  'Ulema  of  the  holy  city  of  Nejef,  according 
to  which  everyone  who  opposes  the  constitution  is  to  be 
compared  to  him  who  draws  the  sword  against  the  Imam 
of  the  Time  (i.  e.,  against  the  hidden  Imam)— May  Allah 
grant  you  the  joy  of  his  return  !"^^ 

The  doctrine  of  the  Imam,  accordingly,  maintains  its 
active  force.  It  has  attained  a  dogmatic  significance  of 
fundamental  importance  and  is  an  active,  essential  ele- 
ment of  the  religious  and  political  system. 

XIII.  Now  that  we  have  learned  to  know  the  nature 
and  significance  of  the  dignity  of  the  Imam  as  the  very 
root  of  Shi4tic  faith,  in  so  far  as  the  latter  is  distinct 


248  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

from  Sunni  Islam,  one  question  still  remains  to  be  con- 
sidered which  is  essential  to  a  complete  understanding 
of  Shi'ism. 

Attachment  to  Islam  is  not  covered  by  an  act  of  sub- 
mission to  a  definite  form  of  political  argument, 
whether  in  a  theoretical  or  an  actual  sense ;  it  demands, 
in  addition,  the  recognition  of  a  definite  number  of  doc- 
trines, in  regard  to  the  formulation  of  which  various 
parties  differ.  It  further  demands  the  fulfilment  of  a 
definite  series  of  ritualistic  practices  regulating  life  with 
legal  nicety,  the  details  of  which  form  the  subject  of 
differences  among  the  various  recognized  schools.  The 
question  now  arises  whether  Shi' ism  has  developed  out- 
side of  the  Imam  theory  other  peculiarities  of  a  dog- 
matic or  practical  character,  which  further  separate  this 
sect  in  an  essential  degree  from  Sunni  Islam.  By  way 
of  answer  we  should  like  to  point  out  that  the  character- 
istic doctrine  of  Shi'itic  Islam  involves  a  deviation  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  Sunna  that  extends  to  other 
dogmatic  points  of  a  basic  character.  The  Shi^tic  con- 
ception of  the  nature  of  the  Imams  necessarily  exercises 
an  influence  on  the  form  taken  by  their  idea  of  God,  their 
view  of  law  and  of  the  function  of  the  prophet. 

Another  point  to  be  taken  into  consideration  is  the 
circumstance  that  within  the  various  tendencies  of  the 
many  branches  of  Shi4sm,  various  points  of  view  have 
come  to  the  fore  in  questions  of  dogma,  including,  in  the 
case  of  some  of  the  schools,  a  crude  anthropomorphic 
disposition.  It  can  be  proved,  however,  that  that  phase 
of  Shi' ism  which  obtained  an  authoritative  position  in 
matters  that  were  not  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Imam,  is  closely  allied  to  the  Mu'tazilite  point  of  view,^ 
which  we  discussed  in  a  previous  chapter  (Chapter  3, 
page  110).  It  shows  how  far  the  theologians  went  in 
incorporating  in  their  teachings  the  Mu'tazilite  point  of 
view.    Their  designation  of  themselves  as  *' adherents  of 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  249 

justice,  forms  as  we  have  seen,  one  half  of  the  designa- 
tion which  the  Mu^tazilites  give  to  themselves.  The  point 
of  union  between  the  two  appears  to  be  their  assertion 
that  ^Ali  and  the  Imams  were  the  original  founders  of 
Mu^tazilite  dogmatism,  and  that  the  later  followers  of 
Kalam  merely  developed  doctrines  already  propounded 
by  the  Imams.^  We  accordingly  find  in  their  theological 
works  an  Imam  named  as  the  originator  of  a  Mu'  tazilite 
proposition.  An  opinion  attributed  to  the  Imam  Abii 
Ja^far  al-Bakir  which  recalls  in  its  second  part  the  well 
known  utterance  of  a  Greek  philosopher,  will  illustrate 
what  we  have  in  mind : 

God  is  designated  as  knowing  and  powerful  in  the  sense  that 
he  grants  knowledge  to  those  who  know  and  the  ability  to  carry 
out  to  those  who  have  the  power.  What  you  regard  as  his 
special  traits,  are  created  and  brought  about  and  in  so  far  as 
these  attributes  are  to  be  separated  from  his  Unity,  they 
represent  the  products  of  your  own  mind.  It  is  the  same  as 
in  the  case  of  the  snails  who  might  imagine  God  to  have  two 
horns  because  these  are  necessary  for  their  own  perfection,  and 
the  absence  of  them  would  constitute,  from  their  point  of  view, 
a  defect  precisely  of  the  same  order  as  when  rational  beings 
attribute  their  own  traits  to  God.^ 

The  connection  between  the  prevailing  dogmatism  of 
the  Shrites  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Mu'tazilites  seem 
to  be  maintained  as  a  definite  fact  and  finds  an  unmis- 
takable expression  in  the  declaration  of  the  ShI'ite 
authority,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  hidden  Imam  is  a  part 
of  the  teachings  of  those  who  accept  the  'adl  and  taulud 
which  represent  the  Mu' tazilite  teachings.'*  It  is  in  par- 
ticular a  branch  of  the  Shi'ites  kno^vn  as  the  Zeiditic 
which  is  even  more  closely  and  more  consistently  related 
to  the  Mu' tazilite  doctrines  than  is  the  Imamitic. 

The  Mu' tazilite  influence  has  maintained  its  hold  in 
the  ShI'itic  literature  up  to  the  present  time.    It  is  a 


250  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

serious  error  to  declare  that  after  the  decisive  victory 
of  the  Ash'arite  theology  the  Mu'tazilite  doctrine  ceased 
to  play  any  active  part  in  the  religion  or  the  literature. 
The  rich  dogmatic  literature  of  the  ShI'ites  extending 
into  our  own  days  refutes  such  an  assertion.  The 
dogmatic  works  of  the  Shi'ites  reveal  themselves  as 
Mu'tazilite  expositions  by  their  division  into  two  parts, 
one  embracing  the  chapters  on  ''the  unity  of  God''  and 
the  other  the  chapter  on  ''justice''  (above,  page  110). 
Naturally  the  presentation  of  the  Imam  doctrines  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  Imam  are  also  included.  But  even  in 
regard  to  this  latter  point  it  is  not  without  significance 
that  one  of  the  most  radical  of  the  Mu'tazilites,  al  Naz- 
zam,  agrees  with  the  Shi'ites.  And  it  is  especially  char- 
acteristic of  the  ShI'itic  theology  that  their  proofs  for 
the  theory  of  the  Imamate  are  based  entirely  on  Mu'tazil- 
ite  foundations.  The  absolute  necessity  of  the  presence 
of  an  Imam  in  every  age  and  the  infallible  character  of 
his  person  are  brought  into  connection  with  the  doctrine 
peculiar  to  the  Mu'tazilites  of  an  absolutely  necessary 
guidance  through  di\dne  wisdom  and  justice  (page  111). 
God  must  grant  to  each  age  a  leader  not  exposed  to  error. 
In  this  way  ShI'itic  theology  fortifies  its  fundamental 
point  of  view  with  the  theories  of  Mu'  tazilite  doctrine.^ 

XIV.  So  far  as  the  ritualistic  and  legal  sections  of 
their  teachings  go,  the  differences  between  Sunnites  and 
Shi'  ites  are  entirely  of  a  minor  character,  rarely  affecting 
usages  of  a  fundamental  kind. 

The  ritualistic  and  legal  practice  of  the  Shi'  ites  differs 
from  the  legal  practices  of  the  rest  of  Islam  merely  in 
the  same  way  as  within  the  sphere  of  orthodoxy  there  are 
which  represent  the  Mu' tazilite  teaching.*  It  is  in  par- 
ticular a  branch  of  the  Shi'ite  known  as  the  Zeiditic 
which  is  even  more  closely,  consistently  related  to  the 
shades  of  varying  practice,  involving  invariably  only 
insignificant  formal  differences,  just  as  we  find  such 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  251 

differences  between  the  Hanifites  and  Malikites.^  The 
observation  has  been  made  that  the  Sh^itic  ritualism 
shows  the  closest  affiliation  to  the  Shafi4tic  school.  Fun- 
damental principles  are  not  involved.  To  the  Sunnites, 
the  Shi4te  appears  as  a  dissenter,  not  because  of  any 
peculiarities  of  his  ritual,  or  because  of  the  tendencies 
of  his  doctrines,  but  chiefly  because  of  his  deviation  from 
the  accepted  statecraft  of  the  Sunna. 

How  unimportant  the  ritualistic  differences  of  the 
Shi'  ites  are  from  the  practice  of  the  Sunnite  community, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  modifications  involved  in  the 
case  of  a  Sunnitic  community  being  forced  to  adopt 
Shi4tic  ritual  as  a  result  of  conquest.  We  select  for  this 
purpose  the  instructions  issued  by  a  Shi'itic  conqueror 
in  the  year  866  in  which  are  set  forth  the  changes  neces- 
sary to  establish  Shi'itic  authority  in  Tabaristan. 

You  must  require  your  subjects  to  regard  the  book  of  Allah 
and  the  Sunna  of  his  messenger  as  the  guide,  as  well  as  every- 
thing which  has  been  handed  down  by  the  ruler  of  the  faithful 
'All  ibn  Abi  Talib,  as  authentic  as  regards  the  fundamental 
teachings  of  value  and  its  branches.  Furthermore  the  suprem- 
acy of  'All  over  the  entire  congregation  of  the  true  believers 
must  be  publicly  recognized.  You  must  forbid  them  to  believe 
in  the  absolute  fatality  {jahr)  in  the  anthropomorphic  concep- 
tion, or  to  oppose  the  confession  of  the  unity  and  justice  of  God. 
They  must  be  forbidden  to  hand  down  traditions  which  accord 
virtues  to  the  enemies  of  God  and  to  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  of 
the  true  believer  ('All).  You  must  command  them  to  repeat 
aloud  the  Bismillah-formula  (the  first  Sura  of  the  Koran  at  the 
beginning  of  a  prayer)  ;  to  recite  the  Kunut-request  at  the 
morning  prayer ;-  to  repeat  the  Allah-akbar-formula  five  times 
in  the  funeral  service,  abandon  the  custom  of  rubbing  the  foot 
gear  (in  place  of  the  washing  of  the  feet  before  prayer) ^  to 
add  to  the  addn  (call  to  prayer)  and  the  Ikdma  (the  announce- 
ment of  the  beginning  of  the  service  in  connection  with  the 
Adan)  the  sentence:  "Come  hither  for  the  best  of  pious 
deeds"*:   and  to  recite  the  Ikama  twice. 


252  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Except  for  the  dogmatic  principles,  therefore,  it  is  a 
question  of  minor  ritualistic  differences  such  as  those 
found  in  greatest  number  within  the  orthodox  sections.^ 
There  are  in  all  only  seventeen  points  in  which  the  ShV- 
itic  law  takes  a  separate  stand  and  does  not  agree  with 
one  or  the  other  of  the  orthodox  customs.^ 

XV.  The  most  serious  differences  between  Shi'ite  and 
Sunnite  law  is  to  be  found  within  the  province  of  mar- 
riage laws.  At  all  events  this  variation  is  of  more  im- 
portance for  our  consideration  and  estimate  of  Shi' ism 
than  those  minute  ritualistic  differences  in  the  religious 
practice.  There  is  more  specifically  one  point  in  the  mar- 
riage law  which  merits  attention  from  this  point  of  view, 
to  wit  legitimacy  or  illegitimacy  of  a  marriage  agreement 
with  a  limitation  as  to  time,  the  so-called  temporary 
marriage.^ 

Even  in  Plato's  ideal  state  temporary  marriage  is 
recognized  as  legitimate  in  the  selected  circles,  desig- 
nated as  'the  guardians,'  though,  to  be  sure,  this  is  done 
from  points  of  view  that  are  removed  from  those  pre- 
vailing in  Islam.  Theodore  Gomperz  has  pointed  out  an 
analogy  from  New  England  in  the  case  of  the  ''Per- 
fectionists'' founded  by  John  Humphrey  Noyes,  and 
which  maintained  its  seat  at  Oneida  for  an  entire  genera- 
tion,- and  advocated  among  its  principles  trial  marriage. 

Naturally,  the  motives  were  different  Avhich  actuated 
Mohammed  at  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  lawgiver 
to  tolerate  a  form  of  marriage  which  was  common  in 
heathen  Arabia  (for  which  we  have  also  the  testimony 
of  Ammianus  Marcellinus),  technically  known  as  "sen- 
sual marriage"  (mut'a),  but  which  it  is  preferable  to 
designate  as  'temporary  marriage.'  At  the  end  of  the 
period  agreed  upon  in  such  a  union,  the  validity  of  the 
marriage  according  to  agreement  ceases  eo  ipso  without 
any  formality  or  divorce.^    The  validity  of  this  form  of 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  253 

marriage  was,  however,  abrogated  after  some  years;  it 
is  a  mooted  question  whether  the  prophet  himself  or 
(which  is  more  likely)  ^Omar  was  the  first  to  declare 
such  a  marriage  to  be  the  ^^ sister  of  prostitution" 
and  to  forbid  it  to  the  true  believers.  Even  after 
this  prohibition,  however,  it  was  indulged  in  to  a  limited 
degree,  e.  g.,  for  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  Since 
the  recognition  of  the  Mut'a  form  goes  back  to  a 
Haditli  of  Ibn  'Abbas,  it  has  been  satirically  desig- 
nated ''as  a  marriage  according  to  the  fetwa  of 
Ibn  '  Abbas.  "^  The  Sunnis  in  the  course  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  Islamic  institution  have  accepted  the  pro- 
test against  temporary  marriage  whereas  the  Shi'ites, 
basing  their  claim  (Sura  4,  v.  28),^  on  the  Koran,  still 
recognize  such  a  contract  as  valid.^  Its  repeal  by  the 
Prophet  they  claim  is  not  satisfactorily  vouched  for,  nor 
is  its  abrogation  by  'Omar^  valid,  since,  even  if  the 
tradition  in  regard  to  his  attitude  is  accepted,  his 
authority  in  matters  of  law  is  not  recognized. 

This  difference  between  Sunnitic  and  Shi'itic  Islam  is 
therefore  to  be  recognized  as  the  most  significant  in  the 
domain  of  legal  practice. 

XVI.  In  this  connection  several  customs  and  usages 
belonging  to  the  realm  of  historical  reminiscences  should 
be  mentioned.  These  deal  with  the  commemoration  of 
the  '  Aliides,  the  mourning  of  the  Shi'ites  over  the  martyr- 
dom of  the  members  of  the  sacred  family.  The  Buyide 
regents,  under  whose  protection  the  ShI'ite  opinions 
could  be  more  freely  expressed,  instituted  a  special 
religious  feast  ('id  al-ghadir),  to  commemorate  the  act 
of  immersion  which  took  place  in  the  pond  of  Klmmm, 
whereby  the  prophet  appointed  'AH  as  his  successor. 
Upon  this  occurrence  'All's  adherents  have,  since  earliest 
times,  based  the  legitimacy  of  their  Shi'  ite  belief  s.^  Older 
than  this  is  the  observance  of  the  'Ashura  (10.  Muhar- 


254  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ram)  as  a  day  of  repentance  and  mourning  in  memory 
of  the  Kerbela  catastrophe,  which  tradition  fixes  on  this 
day.  The  pilgrimages  also  to  the  cities  and  graves  in 
arak,2  sacred  to  the  memory  of  'All,  give  to  the  cult  of 
graves  and  saints  in  Shi4sm  a  peculiar  individual  stamp, 
which  far  surpasses  in  inner  significance  the  richly 
developed  Sunni  cult  of  saints. 

XVII.  Before  we  proceed  from  the  exposition  of  the 
political,  dogmatic  and  legal  peculiarities  of  this  Moslem 
sect  to  the  religious-historical  combinations,  which  mani- 
fested themselves  on  the  basis  of  Shf  ite  doctrines,  it  is 
essential  to  call  attention  to  some  erroneous  views  about 
Shi' ism  which  are  still  widely  prevalent. 

Let  me  briefly  consider  three  of  these  erroneous 
views,  which  cannot  be  passed  over  in  silence  in  this 
connection. 

(a)  The  mistaken  view  that  the  main  difference 
between  Sunni  and  ShT'ite  Islam  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
former  recognizes,  in  addition  to  the  Koran,  the  Sunna 
of  the  prophet  as  a  source  of  religious  belief  and  life, 
whereas  the  ShI'ites  limit  themselves  to  the  Koran  and 
reject  the  Sunna.^ 

This  is  a  fundamental  error  involving  a  complete  mis- 
understanding of  Shrism,  and  has  arisen  largely  from 
the  antithesis  in  the  nomenclature  between  Sunna  and 
SMa'.  No  ShI'ite  would  allow  himself  to  be  regarded 
as  an  opponent  of  the  principle  of  Sunna.  Rather  is  he 
the  representative  of  the  true  Sunna,  of  the  sacred 
tradition  handed  down  by  the  members  of  the  prophet's 
family,  while  the  opponents  base  their  Sunna  on  the 
authority  of  usurping  ''Companions''  whose  reliability 
the  Shi'ites  reject. 

It  very  frequently  happens  that  a  great  number  of 
traditions  are  common  to  both  groups;  differing  only 
in  the  authorities  for  their  authenticity.    In  cases  where 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  255 

the  Hadiths  of  the  Sunnites  favor  the  tendencies  of  the 
Shi^ites,  or  at  least  are  not  opposed  to  them,  Sh^itic 
theologians  do  not  hesitate  to  refer  to  the  canonical 
collection  of  their  opponents.  As  an  example  we  may- 
instance  the  circumstance  that  the  collection  of  Bukharl 
and  of  Muslim,  as  well  as  of  other  collectors  of  Hadiths 
were  used  at  the  court  of  a  fanatical  Shi^te  vizier 
(Tala'i^  ibn  Ruzzik)  as  subjects  for  pious  reading  at 
the  sacred  Friday  gatherings.^ 

Tradition  is  therefore  an  integral  source  of  religious 
life  among  the  Shi'ites.  How  vital  a  role  it  plays  in 
Shi4te  teachings  may  be  inferred  from  the  circumstance 
that  ^ All's  teaching  about  the  Koran  and  Sunna,  as 
above  set  forth  (page  43)  is  taken  from  a  collection  of 
solemn  speeches  and  sayings  of  ^  All,  handed  do^vn  by  the 
Shi^tes.  Reverence  for  the  Sunna  is  therefore  as  much 
of  a  requirement  for  the  Shi4tes  as  for  the  Sunnites. 
This  is  illustrated  also  in  the  abundant  Sunnite  literature 
of  the  Shi^tes,  and  the  discussions  attached  thereto,  as 
well  as  in  the  great  zeal  with  which  the  Shi'ite  scholars 
fabricated  Hadiths,  or  propagated  earlier  fabrications 
which  were  to  serve  the  interests  of  Shi' ism.  We 
must  therefore  reject  the  supposition  that  the  Shi'ites 
in  principle  are  opposed  to  Sunna.  It  is  not  as  rejecters 
of  the  Sunna  that  they  oppose  its  adherents,  but  rather 
as  those  faithful  to  the  family  of  the  prophet  and  its 
followers— that  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  SM'ite—ov 
as  the  elite  {al-hhassa)  as  opposed  to  the  common  people 
{al-'dmma)  sunk  in  error  and  blindness. 

(b)  It  is  also  an  erroneous  view  which  traces  the 
origin  and  development  of  ShI'ism  to  the  modifications 
of  the  ideas  in  Islam,  brought  about  by  the  conquest 
and  spread  among  Iranic  nations. 

This  widespread  view  is  based  on  an  historical  mis- 
understanding, which  Wellhausen  has  overthrown  con- 


256  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

clusively  in  his  essay  on  the  ^ '  Religios-politischen  Oppo- 
sitions-Parteien  im  alien  Islam. '^  The  ^Aliite  movement 
started  on  genuine  Arabic  soil.  It  was  not  till  the  upris- 
ing of  al-Mukhtar  that  it  spread  among  the  non- Semitic 
element  of  Islam.^  The  origins  of  the  Imam  theory 
involving  the  theocratic  opposition  against  the  worldly 
conception  of  the  state ;  the  doctrine  of  the  Messiah  into 
which  the  Imam  theory  merges  and  the  belief  in  the 
parousia  in  which  it  finds  an  expression,  as  we  have  seen, 
can  be  traced  back  to  Jewish- Christian  influences.  Even 
the  exaggerated  deification  of  *Ali  was  first  proclaimed 
by  'Abdallah  ibn  Saba,  before  there  could  possibly  have 
been  a  question  of  the  influence  of  such  ideas  from  Aryan 
circles,  and  Arabs  joined  this  movement  in  great  num- 
bers.^ Even  the  most  marked  consequences  of  anthropo- 
morphic doctrine  of  incarnation  (see  above  page  233) 
owe  their  origin  in  part  to  those  who  are  of  indisputable 
Arabic  descent. 

Shi4sm  as  a  sectarian  doctrine  was  seized  upon  as 
eagerly  by  orthodox  and  theocratically  minded  Arabs  as 
by  Iranians.  To  be  sure,  the  Sh^ite  form  of  opposition 
was  decidedly  welcome  to  the  latter,  and  they  readily 
identified  themselves  with  this  form  of  Moslem  thought 
on  whose  further  development  their  old  inherited  ideas 
of  a  divine  kingship  exercised  a  direct  influence.  But 
the  primary  origins  of  these  ideas  within  Islam  do  not 
depend  on  such  influence;  Shi4sm  is,  in  its  roots,  as 
genuinely  Arabic  as  Islam  itself. 

(c)  It  is  likewise  a  mistaken  view  that  Shi4sm  repre- 
sents the  reaction  of  independent  thought  against  Sun- 
nitic  incrustation. 

Quite  recently  Carra  de  Vaux  has  advocated  the  view 
that  the  opposition  of  Shi' ism  against  Sunnitic  Islam  is 
to  be  regarded  as  ''the  reaction  of  free  and  liberal 
thought  against  narrow  and  unbending  orthodoxy. '  '^ 

This  view  cannot  be  accepted  as  correct  by  any  stu- 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  257 

dent  of  Shritic  doctrines.  To  be  sure,  it  might  be  urged 
that  the  cult  of  'All  forms  to  such  an  extent  the  centre 
of  religious  life  among  the  Shi'ites  as  to  remove  all 
other  elements  into  the  background.  (See  above  page 
231.)  This  feature  cannot,  however,  be  regarded  as 
characteristic  of  the  principles  underlying  ShI'itic  doc- 
trines, which  in  no  respect  are  less  strict  than  those  of 
the  Sunnites.  Nor  should  we  be  led  astray  in  the  his- 
torical appreciation  of  the  principle  of  Sh^ism  by  an 
increasing  lack  of  regard  among  the  Shi4te  Mohamme- 
dans of  Persia  for  certain  restrictions  demanded  bv  the 
ritual.^  ''In  giving  the  preference  to  infallible  personal 
authority  as  against  the  force  of  general  public  senti- 
ment, the  Shi'ites  set  aside  these  potential  elements  of 
liberal  thought,  which  manifest  themselves  in  the 
Sunnitic  form  of  Islam. '  ^^"^  It  is  the  spirit  of  absolutism 
rather  which  permeates  the  Shi'itic  conception  of 
religion. 

We  further  recall  that  broadmindedness  and  nar- 
rowness in  religious  views  are  to  be  judged  primarily 
according  to  the  degree  of  tolerance  exercised  towards 
those  having  divergent  views :  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  Shi'ite  development  of  Islam  as  compared  with  that 
of  the  Sunnite  occupies  a  lower  level.  What  we  have 
in  mind  are  not  certain  modern  manifestations  among  the 
ShI'ites,  we  are  concerned  only  with  the  definite  reli- 
gious and  legal  institutions  of  this  branch  of  Islam,  as 
expressed  in  its  doctrines.  These,  to  be  sure,  have  been 
considerably  modified  by  the  actual  demands  of  life  in 
modern  days,  and  at  present  are  carried  out  with  entire 
strictness  in  social  intercourse  only  in  the  most  outlying 

districts. 

If  we  judge  from  the  legal  documents,  the  intercon- 
fessional  conception  of  the  law  of  Shi' ism  appears 
harsher  and  cruder  than  that  of  the  Sunnites.  Then- 
laws  reveal  an  increasing  intolerance  toward  opponents 


258  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

in  faith.  Slii4te  interpretation  of  the  law  did  not  avail 
itself  of  the  concessions  which  Sunnitic  orthodoxy 
accepted  as  against  the  narrowness  of  some  of  the  older 
views.  Whereas  Sunnitic  Islam  has  practically  set  aside 
by  its  interpretation  the  harsh  statement  of  the  Koran 
(Snra  9,  v.  28),  that  ^  *  non-believers  are  unclean, '*  ShI'itic 
law  clings  to  the  literal  sense,  and  declares  the  body  of 
the  unbeliever  to  be  unclean  in  a  ritualistic  sense,  and 
includes  contact  with  such  a  person  among  the  things 
that  bring  about  ritualistic  uncleanliness.^  It  is  an  exact 
reflection  of  this  view  when  the  Haji  Baba  of  James 
Morier  ^^  regards  it  as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
traits  of  the  English  that  they  do  not  look  upon  any  one 
as  unclean.  They  would  as  soon  touch  an  Israelite  as 
one  of  their  own  race.''  From  the  point  of  view  of 
Shrite  law,  such  an  attitude  towards  those  of  another 
faith  is  not  regarded  as  strange.^^  Other  examples  of 
this  point  of  view  may  be  found  in  writings  of  Europeans 
who  have  come  into  contact  with  Shi4tes.  Let  me  quote 
some  remarks  from  the  work  of  a  reliable  observer  of 
Persian  life.  Dr.  J.  E.  Polaks,  who  for  many  years 
was  the  body  physician  of  the  Shah  Nasir  al-din.  **If  by 
chance  a  European  arrives  at  the  beginning  of  a  meal, 
the  Persian  is  in  a  quandary,  for  decency  forbids  sending 
him  away,  and  his  presence  offers  difficulty^  because  food 
touched  by  an  unbeliever  is  unclean. ''^^  **  Anything  left- 
over from  the  table  of  a  European  is  scorned  by  the 
servants  and  is  given  to  the  dogs.''  Speaking  of  his 
travels  in  Persia,  he  says  *  ^  The  European  must  not  fail 
to  take  a  drinking  cup  with  him;  none  is  ever  offered 
to  him,  for  according  to  the  belief  of  the  Persians  every 
dish  becomes  unclean  as  soon  as  it  is  used  by  an  unbe- 
liever."^^ Of  the  contemporary  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  Mirza  Seyyid  Khan,  the  same  authority  says  that 
**at  the  sight  of  a  European  he  washes  his  eyes,  to  guard 
them  from  contamination."     This  minister  was  a  very 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  259 

pious  Moslem,  who  consented  very  unwillingly  to  take 
wine  as  a  medicine.  This  remedy  in  the  course  of  time 
became  so  agreeable  that  ^^  despite  his  piety  he  was 
never  found  sober. '^^^  ^he  Shfites  show  the  same  intol- 
erance to  the  Zoroastrians  living  among  them.  Professor 
Browne  tells  of  many  experiences  he  had  during  his  stay 
in  Yezid.  A  Zoroastrian  received  a  bastinading  because 
his  dress  by  chance  touched  some  fruit  which  had  been 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  Bazaar.  Because  of  the  touch  of 
an  unbeliever  the  fruit  was  regarded  as  unclean  and 
could  not  be  eaten  by  one  of  the  true  faith.^^ 

We  find  this  state  of  things  frequently  among  the 
uneducated  Shi4tic  groups  outside  of  Persia.  In  South 
Lebanon,  between  Baalbek  and  Safed  and  eastward 
toward  Coelo-Syria  and  the  Anti-Lebanon,  there  is  a 
Shi4tic  sect  to  be  found  among  the  peasants  living  in 
villages,  known  as  Metawile  (sing.  Mitwali=MutawalI, 
i.  e.,  ^ ^faithful  followers  of  the  ^Ali  family),  and  con- 
sisting of  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  adherents.  According 
to  an  unauthenticated  report  they  are  supposed  to  be 
descended  from  Kurdish  settlers,  who  in  the  time  of 
Saladin  were  transplanted  from  Mesopotamia  to  Syria. 
If  this  were  true  they  would  be  Iranians^^  in  origin; 
but  the  supposition  is  entirely  without  foundation. 
They  are  to  be  found  in  largest  numbers  in  Baalbek 
and  the  surrounding  villages.  The  Emir  family  of  Har- 
fush  reckons  its  descent  from  them.  Now  these  peasants 
share  with  other  Shf  ites  the  above-mentioned  feeling 
against  unbelievers.  Although  they  practice  the  virtue 
of  hospitality  toward  everyone,  they  regard  any  dishes 
in  which  they  have  served  food  and  drink  to  an  unbeliever 
as  infected.  On  this  point  the  American  scholar,  Selah 
Merill,  who  traveled  through  this  part  of  the  country 
for  the  American  Palestine  Exploration  Society  1875-77, 
says:  *^They  consider  that  they  are  polluted  by  the 
touch    of    Christians.      Even   a   vessel    from   which    a 


200  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Christian  has  drunk,  and  anything  from  which  he  may 
have  eaten,  or  even  handled  while  eating,  they  never 
use  again,  but  destroy  at  once.'^^^ 

Although  we  must  reject  the  view  that  Shi4sm  in  its 
rise  is  the  result  of  Iranic  influences  on  Arab  Islam,  the 
relative  severity  towards  those  of  another  faith  must 
be  ascribed  to  Persian  influence,  but  as  a  secondary 
development  of  the  ideas  of  Shl'ism.^^  This  severe  atti- 
tude of  Shi4tic  law  towards  those  of  another  faith 
approaches  the  regulations  in  Persian  religious  writings, 
which  for  the  most  part  are  regarded  by  the  present 
Zoroastrians  as  obsolete,  and  of  which  the  Shrite 
attitude  seems  to  be  an  echo. 

**A  Zoroastrian  must  purify  himself  with  Nirang  after 
having  touched  a  non-Zoroastrian.  A  Zoroastrian  can 
partake  of  no  nourishment  prepared  by  a  non-Zoro- 
astrian; neither  butter,  nor  honey,  not  even  on  a 
journey. '^^"^ 

It  is  more  particularly  the  acceptation  of  these  Per- 
sian regulations  that  has  given  rise  to  ritualistic  dif- 
ferences between  the  branches  of  Islam.  In  spite  of  the 
specific  concession  made  by  the  Koran  (Sura  5,  v.  7), 
the  Shf  ite  law  forbids  the  partaking  of  food  prepared 
by  Jew  or  Christian ;  what  has  been  slaughtered  by  them 
cannot  be  eaten  by  a  Moslem.^ ^  The  Sunnites  adopt 
the  broader  view  for  which  the  Koran  itself  offers  a 
justification.^^ 

In  another  division  of  the  religious  law  the  ShVites 
do  not  avail  themselves  of  the  freedom  given  by  the 
Koran,  but  in  contradiction  to  their  sacred  writings, 
draw  the  consequences  of  their  intolerant  \dews.  The 
Koran  permits  a  Moslem  to  wed  an  honorable  woman 
of  Jewish  or  Christian  faith  (Sura  5,  v.  7).  From  the 
Sunnitic  point  of  view  therefore,  according  to  the  theory 
of  ancient  Islam,  such  mixed  marriages  are  considered 
unobjectionable.^^      The    Caliph   ^Othman   married   the 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  261 

Christian  Na'ila.^i  The  Shi'ites  condemn  such  mar- 
riages, with  reference  to  the  law  in  Sura  2,  v.  220,  for- 
bidding marriage  with  polytheists  (mushrikat).  The 
Koran  verse  favoring  marriage  with  monotheists  of 
another  faith  is  deprived  of  its  original  meaning,  by  an 
interpretation/^^ 

The  intolerance  of  the  true  Shi4te,  however,  extends 
not  only  to  non-Moslems,  but  to  Moslems  who  think  dif- 
ferently. Their  literature  is  saturated  with  this  view. 
The  temper  of  the  Shi4te  as  an  ''ecclesia  oppressa,'^ 
fighting  against  persecution  and  oppression,  and  which 
restricted  the  free  expression  of  opinion  to  secret  con- 
claves of  followers,  is  filled  with  hostility  toward  its  reli- 
gious opponents.  It  regards  its  enforced  takiyya  as  a  mar- 
tyrdom, which  only  serves  to  nourish  its  hatred  towards 
those  responsible  for  this  condition.  We  have  already 
seen  that  its  theologians  have  raised  the  cursing  of  the 
enemy  to  the  rank  of  a  religious  duty  (above  page  229). 
In  their  hatred  of  dissenters  many  of  the  theologians 
go  so  far  as  to  add  to  the  Koran  verse  commending 
alms-giving  the  qualification  that  unbelievers  and  those 
opposing  ^Airs  cause  were  to  be  excluded  from 
all  deeds  of  mercy.  According  to  them  the  prophet 
said:  ''He  who  gives  alms  to  our  enemies,  is  like  him 
who  robs  the  sanctuaries  of  God.''23  The  Sunnites  can 
cite  the  caliph  'Omar  for  a  more  humane  interpretation. 
On  entering  Syria  he  commanded  that  helpless,  sick 
Christians  should  be  aided  by  the  tax  (sadakat)  raised 
for  the  public  purposes  of  the  Moslem  community.-^  The 
tradition  of  the  ShI'ites  are  almost  more  hostile  to  the 
other  Moslems  than  to  non-Moslems.  In  one  of  their 
sayings  the  Syrians  (i.  e.,  the  Sunni  opponents)  are 
placed  lower  than  the  Christians,  and  the  people  of 
Medina  (who  accepted  the  caliphate  of  Abu  Bekr  and 
'Omar)  lower  than  the  Meccan  heathen.^^  There  is  no 
room  here  for  tolerant  views,  indulgence,  and  forbear- 


262  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ance  toward  those  of  another  belief.  The  following 
detail  shows  to  what  an  unreasonable  degree  their  con- 
tempt for  opponents  extends.  One  of  their  standard 
authorities  teaches  that  in  doubtful  cases  in  which  the 
sources  of  religious  law  fail  to  give  a  handle  for  definite 
decision  the  best  line  of  procedure  is  to  do  the  opposite 
of  what  the  Sunnis  would  consider  right.  **That  which 
contradicts  the  ^anuna  (the  Sunnitic  view)  is  correct. ''^^ 
Such  is  their  theology  of  hate  and  intolerance. 

XVIII.  Of  the  many  branches  of  Shi4sm  which,  in 
the  course  of  time,  have  completely  disappeared  from  the 
scene,  two  sects  besides  the  Twelvers  have  survived: 
the  Zeidites  and  the  Isma*ilites. 

(a)  The  former  deviate  with  the  succession  of  Imams 
at  the  fifth  one  after  the  twelve  and  derive  their  name 
from  Zeid  ibn  *Ali,  a  great-grandson  of  Husein.  In 
opposition  to  Ja^far  al  Sadik,  recognized  by  the  general 
body  of  Shi^tes  as  the  hereditary  Imam,  Zeid  steps  for- 
ward in  the  year  122/940,  in  Kufa  as  the  ^Alidic  pre- 
tender, and  dies  in  battle  against  the  Omayyad  caliph. 
His  son,  Yahya,  continued  his  father's  unsuccessful 
struggle,  and  fell  in  Khorasan  in  125/743.  As  a  conse- 
quence, the  Imamship  in  the  group  of  those  Shi4tes  who 
do  not  recognize  the  Twelve,  abandons  the  principle  of 
direct  succession  from  father  to  son  with  the  efforts  of 
Zeid  as  the  watchword  of  their  schism.  The  Zeidites, 
indifferent  to  line  of  descent,  recognize  any  *Aliite  as 
their  Imam,  who  in  addition  to  his  qualities  as  religious 
leader  becomes  a  warrior  for  the  holy  cause,  and  as  such, 
secures  the  devotion  of  the  community.  Their  concep- 
tion is  that  of  the  active  Imamship,  not  the  passive  con- 
ception of  the  ^Twelver'  Shrites  which  closes  with  the 
hidden  Mahdi.  Even  the  fables  of  supernatural  wisdom 
and  divine  qualities  as  possessed  by  the  Imam  are 
rejected  by  them.  In  place  of  such  phantasies  the  real- 
istic character  of  the  Imam  is  emphasized  as  an  active, 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  2G3 

openly  belligerent  leader  and  teacher  of  true  believers. 
Following  the  view  of  their  leader  they  show  themselves 
tolerant  in  their  judgment  of  the  Sunna  caliphates  of  the 
beginning  of  Islam.  They  do  not  share  in  the  absolute 
condemnation  of  Abu  Bakr  and  ^Omar  and  the  com- 
panions of  the  prophet,  who  because  of  their  failure  to 
recognize  the  supernatural  qualities  of  'All,  did  not 
accord  to  him  the  immediate  succession.  Such  short- 
sightedness, however,  does  not  stamp  the  early  adherents 
of  Islam  as  wrong-doers;  nor  those  chosen  by  them  as 
usurpers.  From  this  point  of  view  they  form  the  most 
moderate  wing  of  the  Shi4te  party  opposed  to  the  Sun- 
nite.  Like  the  dynasty  of  the  Idrisites  in  Northwest 
Africa  (791-926  A.  D.),  Zeidite  rulers  arose  from  the 
Hasanide  line  of  the  descendants  of  'Ali.  In  this  way 
was  founded  the  Shi4te  dynasty  of  Hasan  ibn  *Ali  which 
in  863-928  A.  D.  obtained  the  sovereignty  over  Tabar- 
istan,  just  as  (since  the  ninth  century)  the  Imamship 
in  South  Arabia,  although  belonging  to  the  line  of  Hasan, 
bases  its  justification  on  Zeiditic  claims.  This  branch 
of  the  Shrite  sect  is  still  to  be  found  in  South  Arabia 
and  is  popularly  known  as  al-zuyud, 

(b)  The  Isma'ilites  derive  their  name  from  the  fact  that 
in  distinction  from  the  'Twelvers,'  they  end  their  line  of 
visible  Imams  with  the  seventh.  Their  Imam,  not  recog- 
nized by  the  'Twelvers,'  is  Isma'il,  son  of  the  sixth  Imam 
Ja'far  (d.  762  A.  D.)  who,  however,  for  one  reason  or 
another  did  not  actually  accept  the  dignity  of  Imam, 
but  allowed  it  to  pass  on  to  his  son  Mohammed,  who 
then  took  Isma'iPs  place  as  the  true  seventh  Imam.  His 
descendants  follow  in  unbroken  line  as  hidden,  latent 
Imams,  denying  themselves  publicity  until,  as  a  result 
of  long  practiced  secret  propaganda,  the  true  Imam 
publicly  appeared  as  Mahdi  in  the  person  of  'UbaidaUah, 
the  founder  of  the  Fatimide  kingdom  in  North  Africa 
(910  A.  D.).     The  followers  of  this  Shi'ite  system,  in 


264  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

contradistinction  to  the  usual  Imamites,  are  therefore 
called  ^'Seveners.^' 

The  merely  formal  significance  of  this  distinction 
would  not  of  itself  have  sufficed  to  differentiate  sharply 
this  sect  from  the  many  branches  of  Shi*  ism.  The  prop- 
aganda of  the  Isma^lites,  however,  furnished  the 
framework  for  a  movement  of  great  importance  in  the 
history  of  Islam.  In  addition,  their  secret  intrigues 
resulted  in  giving  to  the  political  history  of  Sunna  note- 
worthy expression. 

Those  who  were  striving  for  a  recognition  of  the 
Isma^ilite  form  of  the  doctrine  of  Imam  utilized  this 
aspect  of  the  movement  to  blend  their  view  with  theories 
which  questioned  the  validity  of  traditional  Islam,  even 
in  its  Shritic  form,  and  led  to  its  complete  dissolution. 

One  of  the  most  potent  influences  upon  the  evolution 
of  the  Islam  idea  arose  from  the  neo-Platonic  philosophy. 
The  thoughts  of  this  philosophical  system  influenced  the 
widest  circles  of  Islam,  and  have  even  penetrated  into 
documents  in  which  the  unquestionably  orthodox  con- 
tents of  Islam  find  expression.^  "We  have  already  called 
attention  to  the  consequential  application  of  neo-Platonic 
ideas  to  Sufiism.  In  the  same  way  attempts  were  made 
in  Shf  itic  circles  to  combine  Imam  and  Mahdi  theories 
with  the  neo-Platonic  doctrine  of  emanation  of  ideas.- 
This  influence  manifested  itself  more  particularly  by 
the  use  which  the  Isma^ilite  propaganda  made  of  this 
doctrine.  With  this  difference,  however,  that  whereas 
Sufiism  aims  only  at  an  inner  construction  of  religious 
life,  the  influence  of  neo-Platonic  ideas  among  the  Isma*  il- 
ites  laid  hold  of  the  entire  organization  of  Islam  with  a 
view  to  its  modification.  The  Imam  idea  is  merely  the 
form  of  this  evolutionary  activity  offering  an  apparently 
Islamic  point  of  departure  to  this  movement.  The 
Isma41ites  start  out  with  the  neo-Platonic  doctrine  of 
emanation  which  was  developed  by  a  band  of  so-called 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  265 

^faithful'  of  Basra  in  the  form  of  a  religious  systematic 
encyclopedia,  into  a  religious-philosophical  system,  the 
postulates  of  which  led  to  extreme  consequences.  As 
the  historical  counterpart  to  the  cosmic  scope  of  the 
neo-Platonic  doctrine  of  emanation,  a  system  of  periodic 
manifestations  of  the  world  intellect  is  constructed,  which 
in  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus,  Mohammed  up  to  the 
Imam  following  upon  the  sixth  in  the  Shi^tic  order 
(Isma'il  and  his  son  ibn  Isma41),  thus  forming  a  cyclic 
series  of  seven  ''speakers"  (natik).  The  periods  inter- 
vening between  these  ''speakers''  are  filled  up  with 
series  of  seven  individuals,  likewise  emanations  of  the 
transcendental  powers,  who  confirm  the  work  of  the  pre- 
ceding "speaker''  and  prepare  that  of  the  succeeding 
one.  In  this  way  there  is  established  a  close,  artificially 
constructed  hierarchy,  through  which,  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world,  the  divine  spirit  manifests  itself  to 
mankind  successively  in  ever  more  perfect  manner.  Each 
successive  manifestation  completes  the  work  of  its  pred- 
ecessor. The  divine  revelation  is  not  confined  to  a  given 
moment  of  time  in  the  history  of  the  world.  With  the 
same  cyclic  regularity  the  Mahdi  follows  the  Seventh 
Natek,  endowed  with  the  mission  to  surpass  as  a  still 
more  perfect  manifestation  of  the  world  spirit,  the  work 
of  his  predecessors,  even  that  of  the  prophet  Mohammed. 

By  this  turn  given  to  their  doctrine  of  the  Mahdi,  one  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  Islam,  which  ordinary  Shi' ism  had 
not  dared  to  touch,  is  set  aside.  In  the  eyes  of  the  faithful, 
Mohammed  is  the  "seal  of  the  prophets" — ^he  himself  liad  ^iven 
himself  this  attribute  though  probably  in  a  different  sense  (Sura 
33,  V.  40),— and  the  Mohammedan  Church  in  its  Sunni  as  well 
as  its  Shf  a  form,  had  interpreted  this  as  meaning  that  Moham- 
med ended  forever  the  line  of  prophets,  that  he  was  fulfilling  for 
all  times  what  his  predecessors  had  prepared,  that  he  was  the 
bearer  of  God's  last  message  to  mankind.  The  "expected 
Mahdi"    was   merely  the   restorer   of   the   works   of   the   last 


266  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

prophet  spoiled  by  the  corruption  of  mankind,  the  prophet  in 
whose  path  he  treads,  whose  name  he  bears.  He  is  not  himself 
a  prophet,  much  less  the  teacher  of  an  evolutionary  principle 
of  salvation  going  beyond  the  form  given  to  it  by  Mohammed.^ 
In  the  Isma'ilite  system  of  emanation,  Mohammed's  prophetic 
character  and  the  law  that  he  brought  in  the  name  of  God  loses 
the  significance  attributed  to  it  by  the  rest  of  Islam,  even  in  its 
Shi'itic  form. 

Using  the  flag  of  the  Shf  itic  party  of  the  Isma^ilites 
as  a  pretext,  these  teachings  so  destructive  to  Islam 
spread  by  means  of  a  secret  propaganda,  which  involved 
a  gradual  introduction  of  its  initiates  into  successive 
grades  within  the  organization  until,  when  the  highest 
grade  was  received,  the  attachment  to  the  religion  of 
Mohammed  became  an  empty  form.     In  its  final  aim 
Isma^ilism  is  thus  the  destruction  of  the  positive  con- 
tent of  Islam.    But  even  in  the  preliminary  grades  the 
law  and  tradition  of  Islam  as  well  as  the  sacred  history 
of  the  Koran  are  interpretations  in  an  allegorical  sense. 
The  literal  wording  is  pushed  into  the  background  as 
merely  the  outward  form  of  the  true  spiritual  signifi- 
cance.   ^^  Just  as  the  neo-Platonic  doctrines  aim  to  strip 
off  the  material  cloak,  and  lead  into  the  heavenly  home 
of'  the  universal  soul,  so  the  enlightened  person  must 
remove  the  corporeal  form  of  the  law  by  rising  to  a 
constantly  higher  and  purer  knowledge  and  thus  attain 
the  world  of  pure  spirituality.    Law  is  merely  a  peda- 
gogical means  of  temporary  and  relative  value  for  the 
immature''^ — an  allegory  the  real  significance  of  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  spiritual  treasure  implied  in  the 
allegory.     The  Isma^lites  go  so  far  as  to  recognize  as 
true  believers  only  those  who  follow  these  destructive 
doctrines.     Those  who  take  the  laws  and  stories  of  the 
Koran  literally  are  unbelievers. 

This  allegorical  conception  of  the  law  and  the  invalid- 
ity of  its  literal  meaning  was  indeed  anticipated  in  the 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  26T 

circumstance  that  Isma'il  who  gave  the  name  to  the  sect 
was  rejected  by  the  opposing  Imamites  because  he  was 
guilty  of  wine-drinking  and  thereby  rendered  himself 
unworthy  of  the  Imamship.  Against  this,  however,  those 
to  whom  the  name  of  Isma'il  became  the  rallying  cry, 
claim  that  a  person,  who  by  birth  is  singled  out  for  the 
dignity  of  the  Imamship,  must  be  free  from  sinfuhiess. 
The  prohibition  of  wine,  had,  therefore,  merely  allegori- 
cal significance  for  Isma'il  and  also  for  his  followers. 
It  was  the  same  with  the  other  laws ;  fasting,  pilgrim- 
age, etc.  The  opponents  of  the  sect  claim  that  this  reli- 
gious conception  was  extended  to  the  abolition  of  moral 
laws  and  to  the  approval  of  all  kinds  of  shameful  prac- 
tices.^ We  cannot,  however,  believe  that  spiteful  pictures 
of  this  kind  correspond  to  the  actual  facts. 

This  system,  so  admirably  adapted  to  the  grades  of 
initiation  to  secret  propaganda,  has  with  the  aid  of  a 
clever  policy  set  on  foot  movements  which  have  had  a 
widespread  influence  on  Mohammedan  circles.  The 
foundation  of  the  Fatimide  kingdom  in  North  Africa 
and  later  in  Egypt  with  the  territories  belonging  thereto 
(909-1171),  was  the  result  of  an  Isma41itic  intrigue. 
Consistent  Isma^lites  could  not  be  satisfied  with  the  last 
temporal  manifestation  of  the  world-intellect  in  the 
Fatimide  Imam.  The  circle  was  to  be  closed.  They 
regarded  the  year  1017  as  the  time  when  the  Fatimide 
caliph  Hakim  should  reveal  himself  as  the  incarnation  of 
God.  When  he  disappeared  in  the  year  1021,  presumably 
through  murder,  his  few  followers  refused  to  believe  in 
his  actual  death ;  they  declared  he  was  living  in  hiding, 
and  would  return  (see  above,  page  241).  The  belief  in 
Hakim's  divine  nature  persists  among  the  Druses  of  the 
Lebanon  up  to  the  present  time.  The  group  known  in 
the  history  of  the  crusades  as  Assassins  are  also  a 
consequence  of  the  Isma41ite  movement. 

The  relation  of  their  religious  movement  to  positive 


268  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Islam  is  to  be  judged  by  its  own  central  principle, 
namely,  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  religious  facts. 
Truth  is  contained  in  the  inner  meaning  (hatin),  the 
outer  (zahir)  is  a  mere  veil  for  the  uninitiated;  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  their  preparation,  the  veil  will  be 
drawn  aside  to  allow  them  to  gaze  into  the  face  of  naked 
truth.  Hence  the  designation  Batiniyya,  applied  among 
theologians  to  the  adherents  of  these  theories  which,  by 
the  way,  the  Isma^lites  share  with  the  Sufis. 

In  Suflism  also,  this  doctrine  of  the  '4nner  meaning,'' 
coming  from  the  same  neo-Platonic  source,  has  attained 
central  significance.  An  Isma'ilite  Batini  could  have 
written  word  for  word  the  lines  of  the  mystic  poet 
Jelal  al-din  al  Rumi,  embodying  the  true  significance  of 
all  interpretation. 

Know,  the  words  of  the  Koran  are  simple;  nevertheless 
beyond  the  external  they  hide  an  inner,  secret  meaning ; 

By  the  side  of  the  secret  sense  there  is  still  a  third,  which 
bewilders  the  finest  intellect ; 

The  fourth  meaning  no  one  has  kno\\^i  but  God,  the  Incompar- 
able and  All-sufiicient. 

Thus  can  one  proceed  toward  seven  meanings,  one  after  the 
other. 

So  my  son,  do  not  confine  thyself  to  the  external  meaning,  as 
the  demons  saw  only  clay  in  Adam ; 

The  external  meaning  of  the  Koran  is  like  Adam's  body;  for 
only  his  form  is  visible,  his  soul  is  hidden.'^ 

These  increasingly  subtle  degrees  of  the  secret  inner 
meaning  which  are  hid  by  the  external  cloak  of  the 
written  word,  remind  us  of  what  the  Isma^Hiyya  call 
ta'wil  al-ta'wll,  i.  e.,  the  secret  interpretation  of  the 
secret  interpretation.  By  an  ascending  scale  the  mysti- 
cism and  symbolism  of  each  preceding  interpretation 
advances  to  a  still  subtler  view  of  the  material  sub- 
stratum, until  the  complete  dissolution  of  the  original 
Islamic  kernel. 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  ,>«'.) 

Isma^lism,  with  its  unlimited  excesses  in  fa'ivJl,  has 
resulted  in  some  offshoots  of  minor  significance,  among 
which  special  mention  should  be  made  of  the  secret 
doctrine  of  the  so-called  Hurufl  (the  interpretation  of 
letters  of  the  alphabet  founded  by  Fadl- Allah  of  Astarfi- 
bad  in  the  year  800/1397-8).  This  system  is  like- 
wise founded  on  the  construction  of  the  cyclic  evolution 
of  the  world-spirit,  within  which  Fadl-AUah  regarded 
himself  as  the  manifestation  of  the  deitv,  and  his  mes- 
sage  as  the  most  complete  revelation  of  the  truth.  It 
was  for  this  that  he  suffered  a  martyr's  death  at  the 
hands  of  Timur.  He  joined  to  his  teachings  a  suLliu 
symbolism  of  letters  and  their  numerical  value,  to  which 
he  attached  cosmic  significance  and  powers.  On  the  basis 
of  this  cabalistic  method  further  developed  by  his 
adherents,  the  Hurufi  people  have  come  to  a  ta'wU  of 
the  Koran,  which  contains  almost  nothing  of  its  original 
intent.  Their  pantheism  offered  many  points  of  con- 
tact with  the  teachings  of  the  Sufis,  among  whom  the 
order  of  the  Bektashis  has  adopted  this  system." 

In  other  developments  emanating  from  the  Isma'ilites, 
the  numerical  aspects  of  the  system  of  the  Imamship 
assume  a  minor  significance,  although  they  are  compat- 
ible with  the  recognition  of  the  line  of  the  Twelve.  The 
essential  thing  in  these  sub-branches  of  the  movement 
is  the  rejection  of  the  literal  meaning  of  the  Moslem 
beliefs,  and  the  extreme  application  of  the  'Allite  tradi- 
tions as  bearers  of  their  own  Gnostic  secrets  concerning 
progressive  revelation,  and  its  incarnation  in  ever 
renewed  manifestations  of  the  divinity. 

XIX.  The  philosophizing  trait  in  the  system  of  the 
Isma^mtes  has  not  freed  them  from  the  narrow  views 
which  are  characteristic  of  the  ordinary  Shrite,  espe- 
cially in  two  directions. 

In  the  first  place  the  unlimited  belief  in  authority 
which  is   closely  associated  with  the  Imam  theory  is 


270  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

carried  by  them  to  an  extreme.  Isma41ism,  therefore, 
bears  the  name  of  ta'llmiyya,  *Hhe  being  taught/'  i.  e., 
the  absolute  dependence  upon  the  doctrinal  authority  of 
the  Imam,  in  contradiction  to  the  justification  of  indi- 
vidual study  and  the  collective  force  of  the  Ijma^  (gen- 
eral consent).  Al-Ghazali  attacks  them  in  various  writ- 
ings, under  the  name  of  ta'limiyya,  among  others  in  the 
form  of  a  Platonic  dialogue,  which  he  carries  on  with 
one  of  the  representatives  of  the  ta^limiyya}  "Within 
the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  law  of  the  Koran 
they  find  in  these  laws  merely  the  form  embodying  the 
demand  for  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  Imam.^ 
With  this  cult  of  authority  is  joined  the  duty  of  uncon- 
ditional obedience  to  superiors,  which  appears  in  a  par- 
ticularly terrifying  form  among  the  Assassins,  a  branch, 
as  we  have  seen  of  the  Isma41ite  movement.^ 

Furthermore  the  Isma^ilians  share  with  the  Shi4tes, 
the  extreme  intolerance  towards  those  who  differ  from 
them.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  give  as  a  single  example  a 
paragraph  from  an  interesting  Isma^ilite  work  about  the 
poor-tax  and  its  allegorical  interpretation,  found  in  a 
Leiden  manuscript:  ^^He  who  associates  (ashraka)  with 
his  Imam  another  authority,  or  doubts  him,  is  like  the 
person  who  associates  someone  else  with  the  prophet, 
and  doubts  him.  Thus  he  is  like  the  person  who  recog- 
nizes another  God  besides  Allah.  He,  therefore,  who 
associates  (anyone  with  the  Imam),  doubts  him  or  denies 
him,  is  najas  (unclean),  not  clean  (tdhir) ;  it  is  forbidden 
to  make  use  of  that  which  such  a  man  has  acquired.''* 

Apart  from  their  connection  with  the  Druses  who  deify 
Hakim  and  who  are  scattered  throughout  Middle  Syria^ 
and  other  parts  of  Islamic  territory,  the  Isma^ilites  are 
also  to  be  found  in  Persia  and  India  under  the  designa- 
tion of  Khojas.^  Quite  recently,  an  Isma41ite  assembly 
house  was  erected  in  Zanzibar.'^  These  modern  Isma^il- 
ites  recognize  as  their  head  a  man  with  the  title  Agha 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  271 

Khan.  This  office-bearer  traces  his  descent  to  a  branch 
of  the  Fatimide  dynasty  (Nizar),  as  a  descendant  of  the 
Assassin  princes  who  claim  to  be  descendants  from  this 
branch.^ 

The  followers  of  Agha  Khan,  who  at  present  has  his 
seat  in  Bombay  and  other  parts  of  India,  pay  homage 
to  him  through  Zakat-tribute  (governmental  tax)  and 
rich  gifts.  The  present  incumbent  of  this  office  is  a 
rather  worldly  gentleman  possessed  of  modern  ideas  of 
culture,  having  at  his  disposition  large  means  which 
he  himself  is  fond  of  using  for  extensive  travel.  He  has 
been  to  London,  Paris,  the  United  States  and  also  to  the 
court  in  Tokyo.  There  are  few  traces  in  him  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  system  which  he  is  sup- 
posed to  represent.  He  gives  freely  of  his  possessions 
for  the  furtherance  of  the  modern  cultural  movements  in 
Indian  Islam,  which  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  of 
considering,  and  in  the  administration  of  which  he  takes 
a  leading  part.^  Quite  recently  he  was  chosen  president 
of  the  All  India  Moslem  League.^ ^  He  is  a  strong 
adherent  of  British  rule  in  India,  which  he  recognizes 
as  a  blessing  for  the  Indian  peoples.  During  the  latest 
Swaraji  movement  he  gave  a  warning  to  the  Moslem 
Indians,  which  was  meant  also  for  the  Hindus.  In  this 
he  pointed  out  the  folly  and  immaturity  of  the  desire  for 
independence  and  showed  the  necessity  and  beneficence  of 
British  rule  as  the  unifying  and  mediating  principle  for 
the  various  peoples  of  the  Indian  Kingdom,  separated 
from  one  another  by  virtue  of  their  varying  aims. 

XX.  Since  the  Shi4te  form  of  belief  credits  *A1T  and 
his  successors  with  superhuman  attributes,  these  very 
ideas  have  served  as  supports  for  the  remnants  of 
degenerate  mythological  traditions.  Such  tales  as  existed 
in  the  traditions  of  the  peoples  converted  to  Islam  about 
superhuman  powers,  but  which  with  the  disappearance 
of  the  old  religion  had  lost  their  hold,  could  be  adapted 


272  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

to  the  form  of  'Aliitic  legends  and,  thus  transformed, 
continue  to  flourish.  The  persons  of  the  *Ali  family 
appropriate  the  attributes  of  mythological  figures,  and 
these  attributes  take  their  place  in  the  Shi'ite  train  of 
thought,  without  any  difficulty.  Within  Shfism  few 
scruples  prevent  the  object  of  this  veneration  from  being 
raised  above  earthly  things  and  made  to  partake  of 
superhuman  strength. 

How  far  the  ordinary  Shrite  view  goes  in  this  direc- 
tion, we  have  already  seen.  The  light-substance  of  'All 
and  his  family  form  part  of  the  divine  throne.  Accord- 
ing to  a  legend  Hasan  and  Husein  wore  amulets  which 
were  filled  with  down  from  the  wings  of  the  angel 
Gabriel.^  In  these  circles  therefore  it  was  very  easy  to 
weave  mythological  material  into  the  figures  of  the  '  Alitic 
family.  For  example,  *Ali  became  a  god  of  thunder; 
he  appears  in  the  clouds  and  produces  thunder  and  light- 
ning; the  latter  the  scourge  which  he  brandishes.  Just 
as  the  myths  explain  the  glow  of  sunset  as  the  blood  of 
Adonis  killed  by  a  wild  boar,  there  appears  in  Shi'itic 
legends  the  explanation  that  the  sunset  is  the  blood  of 
the  slaughtered  Husein;  there  was  no  such  glow  before 
his  death.-  The  cosmographic  writer  Kazwini  (d.  682/ 
1283)  reports  that  the  Turkish  people  of  Baghraj  were 
ruled  by  a  dynasty  which  traced  their  descent  from  the 
'Allite  Yahya  ibn  Zeid.  They  treasure  a  golden  book  on 
the  outside  of  which  is  written  a  poem  on  the  death  of 
Zeid,  and  they  accord  to  this  book  religious  adoration. 
They  call  Zeid  the  ''king  of  the  Arabs'^  and 'Ali  "The 
God  of  the  Arabs."  When  they  look  toward  heaven  they 
open  their  mouth  and  with  fixed  gaze  say:  "There  the 
God  of  the  Arabs  mounts  and  descends.''^ 

It  is  more  particularly  neo-Platonic  and  gnostic  ele- 
ments in  which  the  Isma'ilite  sects  invested  the  Moslem 
conception  of  belief,  that  have  aided  in  the  preservation 
of  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  heathen  religion.     As  the 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS.  273 

persons  of  the  sacred  famHy  had  been  raised  to  the 
sphere  of  divinity,  they  could  easily  serve  as  substitutes 
for  ancient  deities,  hidden  under  a  Moslem  nomenclature. 
Thus  in  the  valleys  of  the  Lebanon  ancient  Syrian 
heathenism  survives  in  an  external  Shi^tic  form,  in  the 
sect  of  the  Nusairiah  (between  Tripoli  and  Antioch).  In 
the  'Twelver'  cult  of  this  sect  unmistakable  heathen  con- 
ceptions predominate.  One  must  take  into  consideration, 
that  in  the  districts  in  which  this  Shi'itic  sect  flourishes, 
the  ancient  heathenism  still  prevailed  until  shortly  before 
the  introduction  of  Islam,  and  Christianity  itself  was  very 
late  in  gaining  a  foothold.*  It  is,  therefore,  natural  that 
the  ideas  brought  by  Islam  should  have  been  intertwined 
with  old  heathenish  elements.  Islam  is  merely  a  surface 
phenomenon.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  hearts  of  the 
people  have  cherished  the  heathen  traditions  of  their 
forefathers,  and  have  carried  them  over  to  the  new 
manifest  objects  of  cult.  In  the  amalgamation  of 
heathenism,  gnosticism  and  Islam,  the  Moslem  element 
is  nothing  more  than  a  form  differing  from  the  heathen 
nature  cult,  and  merely  provides  a  name  for  the  heathen 
religious  ideas.  'All — as  they  say  in  a  prayer — is 
''eternal  in  his  divine  nature;  our  God  according  to  his 
inner  being,  although  our  Imam  externally.''^  In  the 
various  sects  he  is  identified  with  various  divine  forces 
of  nature.  To  the  majority  he  is  the  moon  god,  with  the 
augmentation  of  a  Shi'ite  appellation,  the  "Emir  of 
the  bees,"  i.  e.,  of  the  stars.  We  have  already  men- 
tioned that  Mohammed  himself  by  the  side  of  'All  sinks 
to  the  subordinate  significance  of  the  "veil."  "With 
'All  and  Selman  he  rounds  out  a  trinity  which,  with  all 
that  belongs  to  it,  is  allied  to  a  heathenish  nature  cult. 

In  the  worship  offered  to  'All  and  his  family,  the 
persons  linked  to  them  by  legend  and  to  the  Imams,  we 
have,  in  reality,  the  worship  of  heaven,  the  sun,  the 
moon  and  other  forces  of  nature.    These  traditions  have 


274  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

been  adapted  with  the  help  of  gnosticism,  which  is  to 
be  found  in  all  these  remains  of  heathenism.  Their  true 
inwardness  is  revealed  to  the  initiated  according  to  the 
measure  of  their  graded  initiation.  If  the  Islamic  law 
among  the  Isma^ilites,  who,  by  the  way,  are  hostile  to 
the  Nusairiah,  has  even  in  the  lower  grades  merely  a 
symbolical  significance,  for  the  initiated  Nusairiah,  all 
positive  Islam  is  completely  dissipated.  The  Koran 
itself  takes  a  position  subordinate  to  another  sacred 
book,  which  book,  in  spite  of  all  attempts  at  secrecy, 
has  become  known  through  a  Christian  neophyte  in  their 
midst,  and  which  has  formed  the  subject  of  investiga- 
tions by  European  and  American  scholars.^  They  them- 
selves set  themselves  up  against  the  rest  of  the  Moslems 
as  the  true  ^'believers  in  the  divine  unity''  (ahl  al 
tauhid),  as  true  interpreters  of  the  Shi'itic  thought. 
They  regard  the  general  Shi4te  as  Zdliiriyya,  that  is, 
as  adherents  to  an  ^external'  conception  of  religion,  who 
have  not  penetrated  into  the  depths  of  true  monotheism, 
as  mukassira,  i.   e.,  those  who  have  not  attained  the 

•  •     •  7  7 

required  degree  of  perfection  in  their  worship  of  *  Ali.''' 

In  reality  it  is  merely  a  nominal  Islam  which  is  repre- 
sented in  these  forms  of  old  Asiatic  heathenism,  embody- 
ing in  their  developed  form  certain  Christian  elements 
such  as  the  consecration  of  food  and  wine,  a  kind  of 
communion  meal,  and  the  celebration  of  holidays  peculiar 
to  Christianity.  The  history  of  religion  often  shows  that 
such  sect-degenerations  lend  themselves  to  syncretism. 

We  have  so  far  considered  those  dissenting  forms  of 
Islam  which  exerted  an  influence  on  the  development  of 
Islam  up  to  the  time  of  the  definite  establishment  of  the 
orthodox  phase.  But  even  after  this  perished  the  agita- 
tion continued.  We  have  now  to  consider  later  move- 
ments, the  results  of  which  reach  to  our  own  day. 


NOTES.  275 


NOTES. 

I.  1.  On  this  ancient  misunderstanding  see  my  ^'Beitrage  zur  Litter- 
aturegeschichte  der  Shi' a  and  der  Sunnitischen  Polemik"  (Vienna 
1874).  9  Sitzungsber  der  k.  Akad.  d.  Wiss.  Phil.  Hist.  Kl. 
LXXVIII  445)  and  ' '  Denombrement  des  seetes  Musulmanes"  in 
''Eevue  de  THistoire  des  Religions"  XXVI,  129  ff.,  cf.  ZDMG 
LXI,  73  fe. 

2.  ZDMG  LXII  5  note  2.  The  practical  application  of  this  view 
is  reported  by  al-Harith  al-Muhasibi  (d.  in  Baghdad  243/857) 
(Kusheiri,  Bisala  15,  5),  which  is  all  the  more  remarkable  as 
Harith  belonged  to  the  ascetic  division  which  attaches  little 
importance  to  dogmatic  subtleties.  According  to  other  reports 
(Kaswim  ed.  Wustenfeld  II  215,  16;  Subki,  Tahdkat 
al-SMpiyya  II  38,  12)  the  father  was  Eafidi  (Shi'ite),  which 
gives  a  better  account  of  the  disparitas  cultus. 

3.  Ibn  al-Fakih  al-Hamadani,  Kitdh  al-holddn,  ed.  de  Goeje  44,  18. 
II.  1.  ''Der  Islam  im  Morgen-  und  Abendlande,"   I  283. 

2.  See  especially  Wellhausen's  treatise  "Die  Religios-politisehen 
Oppositionsparteien  im  alten  Islam"    (see  above  p.  141). 

3.  A  classic  presentation  of  the  Kharijite  views  as  opposed  to  those 
of  the  other  Moslem  groups  is  Aghani  XX,  105  ff. 

4.  Kremer,    "Geschichte  der  herrschenden  Ideen  des  Islams"  360. 

5.  Dervish  al-Mahruki,  Kitab  al-dald'il  fi-l-lawdzim  wal-wasd'il 
(Cairo  1320)  20.  The  same  thought  in  moral  maxims  'Uyun 
al-ATchhdr;    419,  18  ff. 

6.  Klein    "The  Religion  of  Islam"    (London  1904),  132. 

7.  Cf.  ZDMG  XLI,  31  ff. 

7a.  The  leading  authority  on  this  literature  was  the  late  Motylinski, 
director  of  the  Medressa  in  Constantine  (Algiers)   (d.  1907). 

8.  Cf.  "Revue  de  PHistoire  des  Religions"  LII,  232.  A  practical 
example  is  the  use  of  the  verse  in  the  Koran  Sur.  20,  4  in  an  Iba- 
dite  sermon,  preached  in  Tahert  in  the  third  century  after  the 
Hijra.  (Actes  du  XV  Congres  des  Orientalistes,  Algiers  1905— III 
126.)  The  Text  published  there  offers  a  very  clear  picture  of  the 
inner  life  of  the  Ibadite  gatherings  of  that  time. 

9.  Cf.  ZDMG  LXI  864  note  5. 

10.  Shahrastani  "Book  of  religions  and  philosophical  sects"  95, 
4  fr.  below;    96,  8  fr.  below  concerning  the  Meimuniyya. 

11.  Fakhr  al-din  al-Razi,  Mafatlh  al-ghalh  (Buliik  1289)  I  268 
(quoted  according  to  al-Khatib  al-Baghdadi). 

12.  Cf.  for  details  Sachau  "Religiose  Anschauungen  der  Ibaditschen 
Muhammedaner  in  Oman  and  Ost  -Afrika"  (Mitteil.  d.  Seminars  f. 
Orient.  Spr.  1898  II  2,  47-82). 


276  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

13.  Zwemer  in  ^'The  Mohammedan  World  of  to-day"  (1906)   (p.  102) 
is  mistaken  in  speaking  of  tlie  Abadhi  sect  as  of  Shi' a  origin. 

14.  According  to  a  notice  of  Ibn  Hazm    (d.   456/1064)    there  were 
Ibadites  in  Andalusia  in  his   day.     Kitab   al  Milal    (ed.   Cairo) 

IV  179,  cf.  191,  8.  They  probably  came  over  from  North  Africa, 
or  were  in  Spain  temporarily  only,  where  Ibn  Hazm  came  in 
contact  with  them. 

15.  M.  Hartmann,  Zeitschr.  f .  Assyr.  XIX  355  ff. 
III.  1.  Amall  al-Kali  III  173,  3 ;    198  penult. 

2.  Muh.  Studien  II  117.  Indeed  Hadiths  of  Sunnitic  origin 
are  not  lacking,  in  which  Mohammed  is  supposed  to  have 
announced  his  wish  concerning  his  successor  (cf.  ibid.  II  99  note 
1).  These  announcements,  however,  do  not  appear  as  definite 
decisions  of  the  question  of  succession,  and  do  not  have  the  form 
of  a  solemn  act  of  apporntment  as  the  Shi'ites  claim  for  'Ali. 
In  a  tradition  of  Ibn  Sa'  d  III,  I  46,  5  ff .  we  find  support  for 
the  claim  that  the  prophet  himself  chose  'Othman  as  one  of  his 
caliphs;  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  statement  goes  back 
to  a  maula  Othmdn  (''client  of  Othman"),  as  its  source  which  is 
indicative  of  the  character  of  the  tradition. 

3.  Abu  Ja'far  Muh.  al-Kulini  (d.  328/939)  in  Baghdad,  al-Usul 
min  al-Jdmi  'al-Tcdfl  (Bombay  1302)   261. 

4.  Van  Berchem  "Journal  Asiatique"  1907  I  297  ff.  M.  Griin- 
baum,  "Gesammelte  Aufsatze  zur  Sprach-  und  Sagenkunde" 
(Berlin  1901)  226. 

5.  See  the  criticism  of  these  assumptions  by  an  'Aliite  Ibn  Sa'd 

V  239,  2  ff. 

6.  In  a  number  of  very  clumsy  traditions  in  which  God  himself,  as 
well  as  Khadir  and  Mohammed,  verify  by  name  the  line  of 
Imams  of  the  'Twelvers.'  A  Jew  of  the  line  of  Aaron  knows  of 
them  from  the  "Book  of  Harun"  (for  the  latter  cf.  Zeit- 
schrift  f.  alttest.  Wiss.  XIII  316).  These  Shiite  fables  have 
been  collected  by  Kulini,  Usui  al-Kdfl  342-346.  The  proof  of  the 
Imam  theories  in  the  Old  Testament  (just  as  the  Sunni  apolo- 
gists prove  from  biblical  books  that  Mohammed  was  an  apostle) 
have  been  collected  by  a  modern  Shi'ite  theologian  Seyyid  'Ali 
Muhammed  in  a  little  book  known  as  Zdd  hdlil,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  lithographic  form  by  the  Ithna-' asharyya  Press  in 
Lucknow  (1290/1873). 

7-  This  kind  of  Koran  exegesis  can  be  illustrated  by  the  following 
explanation  at  the  beginniug  of  the  91st  Sura:  The  sun  and 
its  light  (that  is  Mohammed)  ;  the  moon  when  it  follows  the 
sun  (i.  e.  'AH),  the  day  when  it  surrounds  the  sun  (Hasan  and 
Husern)  the  night,  when  it  hides  the  sun  (the  Omayyads). 
This  explanation  appears  in  Hadith  form  as  a  revelation  given 
by  the  prophet  himself,  in  Suyuti,  al-La'dll  al-MasmV a  fi-l-ahddlth 
al-Maudu'a  (Cairo,  Adabiyya  1317)  I  184. 


NOTES.  27 


n* 


IV.  1.  Ibn  Sa'  d  V  234  below. 

2.  Ibid.  VI  261,  9  ff. 

3.  From  the  point  of  view  of  a  follower  of  'AIT,  the  'Abbaside 
al-Mansur,  in  spite  of  the  claims  to  legitimacy,  is  ''ja'ir" 
(usurper) ;  this  was  said  to  his  face  by  the  pious  theologian 
Abu  Du'eib  (Nawawi,  TaMil)  112,  6). 

4.  For  the  mihan  of  the  Shi'ites  see  a  letter  of  Abu  Bekr  al-Khwiir- 
izmi  to  the  Shi^te  community  in  Nisabur,  Easa'll  (Stambul 
1297)  130  ff.  The  traditional  saying  about  the  trials  of  the 
followers  of  'AH  is  found  in  Ya'kubl,  ''Historiae"  ed.  Houtsma 
II  242. 

5.  Kenz  al-'ummal  VI  81  No.  1271. 

6.  Dahabi,  Tadkirat  al  liuffdz  IV  11. 

7.  Cf.  E.  G.  Browne,  ''A  Catalogue  of  the  Persian  Manuscripts  in 
the  Library  of  the  University  of  Cambridge"  (Cambridge  1896) 
122-142  (where  further  bibliography  will  be  found).  For  off- 
shoots of  this  literature  WZKM  XV  330-1;  later  ones  in  E. 
Haupt's  "  Orientalisch.  Literaturebericht "  I  no.  3080-1.  The 
Martyrologies  are  also  called  makMil. 

8.  Tha' alibi,  Yatlmat  al-daJir  I  223.  Ibn  Khallikan  ed.  Wiisten- 
feld  IX  59,  where  instead  of  ma'dthimund  we  should  read 
md  'dtimund. 

9.  Meidani   (ed.  Bulak)   I  179:    arakku. 

10.  A.  F.  Bajah  Husain,    ''Husain  in  the  Phil,  of  Hist."    (Lucknow 
1905)    20. 

11.  Ibid.  9.  18.  30. 

V.  1.  Kulini  1.  c.  466.  The  withdrawal  of  both  the  guardian  angels 
is  also  assumed  in  another  instance:  as  soon  as  that  which  is 
allotted  to  man  by  divine  fate  has  been  fulfilled  (al-mukaddar) ; 
they  do  not  try  to  guard  him  against  it;  they  must  allow  the 
decision  a  free  course,  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  22,  13. 

2.  Cf.  about  TaMyya  ZDMG  LX  213  ff. 

3.  Commentary  of  the  Imam  Hasan  el-'Askari  to  the  second  Sura 

verse  17. 

4.  Kulini  105. 
VI.  1.  Kulini  105. 

2.  Various  teachings  about  this  in  Kulini  368  ff.  chapter;  da'd'im 
al-isldm.  Therefore  the  true  Shi'ite  is  mutawdll,  i.  e.  "the  adher- 
ent" (to  the  'AH  community)  which  is  the  special  name  of  a 
Syrian  branch  of  the  Shi'ite  sect. 

3.  Suyuti,  al-La'dli  al-masnu'a  I  184.  In  this  chapter  (166  ff.)  is 
included  an  anthology  of  the  Hadiths,  which  were  invented  by 
partisans  to  support  the  Shi'ite  point  of  view. 

4.  Aghani  XX  107,  19  ff. 

VII.  1.  'AH  al-Kari,  Sharh  al-FiTch  al-aUar  (Cairo  1323)  132  above. 

2.  The  'Abbaside  caliphate  does  not  lag  behind  in  this  respect.     It 


278  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

likes  to  be  called  mlmth  al-nubuwwa  (inheritance  of  the  prophets) 
(Agh.  X  124,  10;  XVIII  79,  5  cf.  Ibn  Jubeir,  '^  Travels"-  ed. 
de  Goeje  92,  2);  therefore  an  attribute  of  the  'Abbaside  cali- 
phate is  al-ndbawl  (''going  back  to  the  Prophet"),  Ibn  al-Kala- 
nisi,  ' '  History  of  Damascus ' '  ed.  Amedroz  155,  9.  5  f r.  below,  165, 
5  fr.  below,  193,  11;  Yakut,  Mu' jam  al-uddba  ed.  Margoliouth 
II  54,  12) ;  however  only  in  the  sense  of  the  legitimate  descent 
from  the  royal  dignity  of  the  prophet,  to  whose  family  the 
'Abbasides  also  belong,  not  as  in  the  case  of  the  'Aliite  Imams 
and  Fatimide  caliphs  in  the  sense  of  recognition  as  a  theological 
authority.  Occasionally  we  find  in  Omayyad  times  also,  by  way 
of  flattery,  the  office  of  caliph  designated  as  an  inheritance  from 
the  prophet,  as  in  an  epistle  of  the  Katib  'Abdallhamid  ibn 
Yahya  to  his  caliph  (in  Easd'il  al-hulaghd  I  [Cairo  1908]  92,  9). 
The  inheritance  here  can  only  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  a  claim 
to  legitimacy. 

3.  Quoted  as  an  utterance  of  the  Imam  Ja'far  al-sadik  by  Suhra- 
wardi  in  Keshkul  (Bulak  1288)  357,  19. 

4.  Cf .  more  fully  in  d.  Zeitschr.  f.  Assyr.  XXII  325  ff. 

5.  Ibn  Sa'd  V  74,  14. 

6.  Ibid.  I,  I  113,  8  on  the  basis  of  Sura  5  v.  71 :  "  God  guards 
thee  from  men"  which  is  interpreted  as  referring  to  the  cor- 
poreal immunity  of  the  prophet.  The  eighth  chapter  of  Mawerdi's 
A' lam  al-nubuwwa  (Cairo  1319)  53-59,  deals  with  this. 

7.  Montet,  ''Le  Culte  des  saints  Musulmans  dans  PAfrique  du 
Nord"  (Geneva  University  Jubilee  1909)  32;  cf.  Achille  Eobert 
in  Revue  des  Traditions  Populaires  XIX,  Feb.  (no.  12,  13). 

VIII.  1.  Such  '  Ali-ilahi-adherents  are  to  be  found,  e.  g. :  among  the 
Turkman  peasants  of  the  district  of  Kars  (Ardaghan),  since  the 
war  of  1877-78  belonging  to  Eussia, — whose  conditions  Devitzki 
has  lately  studied. 

2.  Friedlander,  The  Heterodoxies  of  the  Shiites  according  to  Ibn 
Bazm  (Journal  of  the  Am.  Or.  Soc.  XXIX)  102.  Similar 
doctrines  were  propounded  by  the  self-deified  al-Shalmaghani 
who  was  beheaded  in  Baghdad  322/934.  According  to  his  system 
of  the  graded  incarnations  of  the  Godhead,  Moses  and  Moham- 
med are  regarded  as  deceivers,  the  former  because  he  was 
unfaithful  to  the  mission  entrusted  to  him  by  Aaron,  the  latter 
because  unfaithful  to  the  mission  entrusted  to  him  by  'Ali. 
(Yakut  ed.  Margoliouth  I  302,  13.) 

3.  ZDMG  XXXVIII  391.  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  26,  10  ff.;  V  158,  18  ff.  cf. 
Friedlander  in   "Zeitschr.  f.  Assyr."   XXIII  318  note  3. 

4.  Friedlander,  Heterodoxies  (Jour.  Amer.  Or.  Soc.  XXVIII) 
55  ff. 

IX.  1.  Klein  1.  c.  73.    Even  the  philosopher  Avicenna  admits  as  unassail- 
able that  the  prophets    ''are  in  no  way  subject  to  error  or  for- 


NOTES.  279 

getf ulness. "      (''Die    Metaphysik    Avicennas,"     translated    and 
explained  by  M.  Horten,  Halle  1907  88,  19.) 

2.  Nawawi,  Tahdil)  624,  3.  Yahya  ibn  Z.  is  otherwise  favored  (Ibn 
Sa'd  IV,  II  76,  11). 

3.  Ibid.  VI  32,  5. 

4.  'All  al-Kari,  Sharh  al-Filch  al-aklar  51;  a  treatise  on  this 
Hadith  by  Subki,  TabaTcat  V  123.  The  prophet  is  made  to 
express  concern  about  his  future  fate:  "I  know  not  what  wUl 
happen  to  me''    (Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  289  ult.). 

5.  Al-Kali,  Amm  II  267. 

6.  The  tradition  connects  this  saying  with  the  Hudeibiya-agreement 
in  the  6th  year  of  the  Hijra  (Ibn  Sa'd  II,  I  76),  which  strangely 
enough  it  regards  as  a  "victory,"  while  in  truth  it  involved 
a  "humiliation."  Even  Moslem  historians  have  felt  this: 
'Omar,  they  say,  would  not  have  made  such  an  agreement  (ibid. 
74,5). 

7.  For  the  explanation  of  the  phrase  A.  Fisher,  ZDMG  LXII  280. 

8.  In  Damlrl  II  216,  21,  s.  v.  Ghirnik. 

9.  'All  al'Kdri  1.  c.  136  below. 

10.  Nawawi,  Tahdlh  113,  7. 

11.  "Bajah  Husain"   1.  c.  5. 

12.  Kashf  al-ghumma  'an  jami'  al-umma  (Cairo  1281)  II  62-75, 
according  to  Suyuti. 

13.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  peculiarities  of  the  prophet  brought 
forward  by  Sha'rani  are  traits  given  to  him  by  the  phantasy  of  the 
Shi'ites  as  e.  g.  in  a  popular  work  on  the  Shi'ite  doctrine  pub- 
lished in  Turkish  by  'Abdalrahim  Khuyi.     (Stambul  1327)   10. 

X.  1.  Jahiz,  Tria  Opuscula  ed.  van  Vloten  (Leiden  1903)  137,  17  ff. 
(=EasdHl  ed.  Cairo  1324,  129  bel.)  mentions  the  Shi'ite  view, 
that  the  Imams  stand  higher  than  the  prophets  inasmuch  as  the 
latter  may  sin  but  do  not  err,  while  the  former  neither  sin  nor 
err. 

2.  Asad  Allah  al-Kazimi,  Kashf  al-Jcind'  'an  wnjilh  hujiyyat  al- 
ijmd'  (lith.  Bombay  209). 

3.  Ya'kiibi,  Histoiriae,  ed.  Houtsma  II  525  below.  Concerning  a 
book  of  'All's  which  reaches  down  to  the  deeper  meaning  of 
the  Koran,  see  Ibn  Sa'd  XI  101,  19.  The  secret  attainments 
ascribed  to  Ali  were  scorned  by  the  Kharijites,  Agltdnx  XX  107, 
16  ff. 

4.  They  pretend  to  possess  the  secret  works  ascribed  to  Ali  (see 
previous  note),  which  are  sometimes  pictured  as  containing  all 
the  religious  knowledge  of  the  prophets  and  again  designated 
as  apocalyptic  writings  in  which  the  occurrences  of  all  times 
are  revealed.  They  are  supposed  to  have  been  entrusted  to  'Ali 
by  the  prophet  and  are  passed  on  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion in  the  line  of  the  legitimate  Imams,  as  the  bearers  of  the 


280  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

secret  knowledge  of  'Ali.  The  most  frequently-mentioned  of 
these  books  are  the  J^fr  and  the  JamVa.  The  old  Mu'tazilite 
Bishr  b.  al-Mu'tamir  of  Baghdad  (IX  Cent.)  in  one  of  his 
didactic  poems  calls  the  Shi' ah  people  ''Those  who  have  been 
deluded  by  Jafr.''  (Jahiz,  Eayawdn  VI  94,  1.)  Even  the  out- 
ward form  of  these  so-caUed  secret  books  are  described  in  Shi'ite 
literature;  e.  g.  the  Jami'a  as  a  roll  of  70  lengths  (measured 
by  the  prophet's  arm)  (Kulini  1.  c.  146-148,  Kazimi  1.  c. 
162).  See  the  literature  on  the  subject  ZDMG  XLI  123  ff. 
Besides  these  two  secret  writings,  Kulini  mentions  also  the 
Mashaf  Fatima  in  the  possession  of  the  Imams,  which  the  prophet 
is  said  to  have  entrusted  to  his  daughter  before  his  death;  it 
is  supposed  to  be  three  times  as  large  as  the  Koran. 

As  a  consequence,  mystical  books  of  prophecy  became  known 
everywhere  as  Jafr.  This  word  seems  also  to  be  concealed  in  the 
Maghribite  lenjefdr  (E.  Doutte:  "Un  texte  arbe  en  dialecte 
oranais,"  13,  25  in  Memoires  de  la  Societe  de  Linguistique " 
XIII  347).  The  treatment  and  explanation  of  the  Jafr  books  is 
a  favorite  subject  of  Islamic  occultism.  Cf.  e.  g.  Cairo  cata- 
logue VIII  83.  101.  The  famous  mystic  Muhyi  al-din  ibn  'Arabi 
is  largely  represented  in  this  literature  (ibid.  552).  For  a  Jafr 
work  of  Abu  Bekr  al-Dimishki  (d.  1102/1690)  preserved  in  the 
treasury  of  the  Turkish  Sultan,  see  Muradi,  SilTc  al-durar  (Bulak 
1301)   I  51. 

5.  See  above  note  3,  7. 

6.  The  modern  Shi'ite  scholar  Bajah  Husain  (1.  c.  14)  condemns 
in  an  entirely  Shi'itic  spirit  the  '*  pseudo-democratic  form  of 
government  (of  the  ancient  caliph  times),  based  on  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  general  tendency  of  the  people." 

XI.  1.  The  theologians  of  the  various  Shi'ite  sub-sects  have  developed 
a  rich  polemic  literature  against  each  other.  This  literature 
deals  not  only  with  their  differences  about  the  Imamship,  but 
also  with  other  dogmatic  and  legal  questions,  to  which  the  differ- 
ences between  the  Shi'ite  groups  led.  At  the  end  of  the 
third  and  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  (Hijra  era),  the 
Imamite  theologian  Hasan  ibn  Muhammed  al-Naubakhti,  a 
thorough  Mutakallim,  wrote  a  Kitdh  firak  al-ShV a  (on  the  Sects 
of  the  Shi'ites) ;  furthermore  al-Badd  'aid  firaJc  al-Sht'a  mdlckald, 
al-Imdmiyya  (refutation  of  the  sects  of  the  Shi'ites  with  the 
exception  of  the  Imamites)  cf.  Abu-1'  'Abbas  Ahmed  al-Najashi, 
Kitdh  al-rijdl  (Lives  of  Shi'itic  scholars,  Bombay  1317)  46. 
Jahiz  (d.  255/869),  who  was  nearer  to  the  beginning  of  the  sects, 
wrote  a  book  on  the  Shi'ites  {Kitdh  al-rdfida),  which  unfor- 
tunately does  not  appear  to  have  been  preserved.  He  refers  to  it 
in  a  short  treatise  fi  haydn  Maddhih  al-Shi'a  (Easa'il  ed.  Cairo 


NOTES.  281 

178-185;    the  quotation  itself  p.  181,  3d  line  from  bottom),  which 
however  offers  less  than  its  title  promises. 

2.  Kazimi  1.  c.  80. 

3.  Najashi  1.  c.  237. 

4.  On  this  belief  see  now  the  important  treatise  above  referred  to 
by  I.  Friedlander  on  the  inner  forms  of  the  Shias:  -The 
Heterodoxies  of  the  Shiites"    II  23-30. 

5.  On   ^Abdallah  ibn   S.  and  the  doctrines  propounded  by  him   on 

All  s  nature,  see  now  the  treatise  of  I.  Friedlander  in  Zeitschr 
f.  Assyr.  XXIII  296  ff.     On  the  belief  in  the  return  of  'Ali    see 
Jahiz,  Kayawan  V  134.     For  the  raj' a  belief  cf.  Ibn  Sa'd'lII 
126,16;    VI  159,  13. 

Even    in    (non-Shi' itic)    Sufi    circles,    in    connection    with    the 
apotheosis  of  'Ali  generally  accepted  by  them,  the  conception  of 
his   continuous  existence  and   of  his  return   finds   an   expression 
Sha'rani  tells  of  the  holy  'Ali  Wefa  that  he  said:    ''  'All  ibn 
Abi  Talib  was  raised  up    (into  heaven)    as  Jesus  was;    as  the 
latter  he  will  in  the  future  descend."     To  this  Sha'rani  adds: 
''The  same  thing  was  taught  by   (my  master)    Seyyidi  'Ali  al- 
Khawwas.      I    heard   him    say:     'Noah    preserved    from    the   ark 
a  board  in  the  name  of  'Ali  ibn  Abi  Talib,  on  which  he  would 
one  day  be  raised  on  high.     This  board  was  preserved  by  divine 
power,  until  ^Ali  was  raised  by  means  of  it'  "    {LawaUh  al-anwar 
II  59).     This  Sufi  legend  is,  by  the  way,  a  supplement  to  the 
Islamic   legend    of   the   building    of    the    ark.      God    commanded 
Noah  to  prepare  124,000  boards  for  the  construction;     on  each 
one  appeared  the  name  of  some  prophet  from  Adam  to  Noah. 
It   finally   developed   that    four   more   boards   were   necessary   to 
complete  the  ark;     these  Noah  prepared  and  on  them  appeared 
the  names  of  four    "companions"  (by  which  are  meant  the  four 
first  Sunnite  Caliphs,  of  whom  the  fourth  is  'AH).     In  this  way 
the  ark  was  fitted  out  against  the  flood.     The  legend  is  told  at 
length    in    Muhammed    ibn    'Abdalrahman    al-Hamadani 's    book 
on  the  days  of  the  week  (Eitdh  al-SuhHyyat  fl  mawa'iz  al-bariy- 
ydt.     Biilak   1292, — the  margin   to   Fashni's   commentary   to   the 
40  traditions  of  Nawawi)   8-9. 

6.  Wellhausen,  "Die  religiosen  Oppositionsparteien "  93.  An  ' 
attempt  has  also  been  made  to  find  older  sources  for  this  belief. 
In  the  "Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology" 
VII  71,  Pinches  concluded  on  the  basis  of  cuneiform  texts,  that 
already  in  ancient  Babylon  there  existed  the  belief  in  the  return 
of  the  ancient  king  Sargon  I,  who  was  to  reestablish  the  ancient 
power  of  the  kingdom.  The  interpretation  has,  however,  been 
rejected  by  other  Assyriologists. 

7.  Hilgenfeld    " Ketzergeschichte "    158    (according  to  Origen). 


282  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

8.  See   Basset's  introduction   to    ^'Fekkare  Jyasous"     (Les  Apoc- 
ryphes  ethiopiens  XI  Paris  1909)    4-12. 

9.  ^'Eevue  des  Trad,  populaires"   1905  416. 

10.  Biruni:  '* Chronology  of  Ancient  Nations,"  translated  by  E. 
Sachau  194.  Concerning  Bihafrid  see  Houtsma  in  WZKM  1889, 
30  ff. 

11.  Barhebraeus,  ''Hist.  Dynastiarmn "  ed.  Beirut  218;  cf.  Zeitschr. 
f.  Assyr.  XXII  337  ff. 

12.  Bosworth-Smith,  ''Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism,"  2d  ed. 
(London  1876)   32. 

13.  Landsdell:    "Kussian  Central  Asia."  I  572. 

14.  Muh.  Studien  II  324. 

15.  B.  Talm.  Sanhedrin  97t».  On  the  calculation  for  the  appearance 
of  the  Messiah  from  the  numerical  value  of  the  words  haster  astir 
in  Deut.  31:18  and  from  Dan.  12:11.  13,  see  Biruni  "Chronologic 
orientalischer  Volker"  ed.  Sachau  15-17  (Schreiner  ZDMG  XLII 
600)  cf.  for  this  literature  the  bibliography  by  Steinschneider 
ZDMG  XXVIII  628  note  2;  S.  Poznanski  "Miseellen  iiber 
Sa'aja"  III  (in  Monatschr.  f.  Gesch.  u.  Wiss.  d.  Judentums 
XLIV  1901). 

16.  Kadaha  al-waJckdtiina :  "those  who  fix  the  time  lie."  The 
utterances  of  the  Imams  on  this  subject  in  a  special  chapter 
(hah  Tcaraliiyyat  al-taukit-,  on  the  uselessness  of  determined 
time)  by  Kulini  1.  c.  232-33  and  enriched  with  further  material 
in  the  Shi'  itic  work  of  Dildar  '  Ali :  Mir  'at  al-'  ukul  fl  '  ilm  al-usul 
(also  ' Imdd  al-isldm  fl  Him  al-'kaldm)  I  115  f.  (Lucknow 
1318-9.)  A  Kitdh  waTct  Tcliuruj  al-kdHm  (the  time  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Mahdi)  is  mentioned  in  Tusi  "List  of  Shi' ah  books" 
no.  617  composed  by  Muhammed  ibn  Hasan  ibn  Jumhur  al-Kummi 
who  has  a  bad  reputation  as  an  exaggerator  and  inventor  of 
false  traditions.  The  same  thing  applies  to  the  characterization 
of  a  Shi' itic  theologian  as  an  "exaggerator"  fi-l-waTct,  i.  e. 
with  regard  to  the  (calculation  of)  time,  (of  the  appearance 
of  the  Mahdi,  Najashi  1.  c.  64,  8).  Ibn  Klhaldun,  Prolegomena 
ed.  Quatremere  Not.  et  Extr.  des  Mss.  XVII  167,  criticises  at 
length  a  Mahdi  calculation  of  Ibn  'Arabi.  Such  calculations 
are  rejected  by  the  Hurufis  (see  p.  269),  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
from  the  first  such  cabalistics  were  attributed  primarily  to  them 
(Clement  Huart,  "Textes  persans  relatifs  a  la  secte  des  Hourou- 
fis"  Leyden-London  1909:  Gibb  Memorial  Series  IX,  Texte 
70  ff.).  Eelated  to  the  calculations  of  the  appearance  of  the 
Mahdi  are  the  cabalistic  calculations  in  regard  to  "sa'a" 
("hour"  i.  e.  the  end  of  the  world,  the  resurrection).  Eef erring 
to  Sura  6,  59  ("With  him  are  the  keys  of  the  hidden,  no  one 
knows  them  but  he")  and  7,  186  ("They  wiU  ask  thee  con- 
cerning the    'hour,'    for  what  time  it  is  fixed:    Say:    the  knowl- 


NOTES.  28a 

edge  of  it  is  with  my  God  alone;  he  alone  will  make  it  known 
at  the  proper  time"  =  Matth.  24,  36),  genuine  orthodoxy  has 
rejected  such  computations  as  opposed  to  the  Koran.  The  mate- 
rial for  this  theological  subject  is  to  be  found  in  full  in  Kastal- 
lani's  Commentary  (Bulak  1285)  on  Bukharl,  Ijarat  no.  11  (IV 
150)  ;  Tafsir  no.  88  (VII  232)  ;  no.  335  (ibid!  458  ff.)  ;  Rikak 
no.  39  (IX  323). 

The  astronomers  of  Islam  have  also  occupied  themselves  consid- 
erably with  calculations,  through  the  constellations  of  the  duration 
of  the  Islamic  kingdom.     The  philosopher  al-Kindi  has  a  special 
monograph  on  this,  which  O.  Loth  has  published  in  the   ' '  Morgen- 
landische    Forschungen"      (Fleischer-Festschrift,    Leipzig    1875) 
263-309.     Besides  the  astrological  suppositions,  Kindi  uses  also 
letter  cabalistics  and  mystic  numbers    (ibid.   297).     He  regards 
it  as  a  merit  of  the  Arabic  script  that  it  is  admirably  adapted  to 
such  use   (Balawi,  Kitab  Alif-bd  1  99,  6).     TJie  Ilchwdn  al-safd 
(ed.   Bombay   IV    225)    also   teach   that   the   appearance  of   the 
sahib  al-amr,  for  whom  they  carry  on  a  propaganda,  is  determined 
by  conjunctions. 
XII.  1.  In    its    older    religious    application    the    word    had    not    yet    the 
eschatological  meaning  which  was  attached  to  it  later  on.     Jerir 
(Naka'id  ed.  Bevan  no.  104  v.  29)   applies  this  epithet  to  Abra- 
ham.    When   Hasan  ibn   Thabit  in  his  lament  on  the   death   of 
Mohammed    (Diwaii  ed.  Tunis  24,  4)    praises  him  as  Mahdl,  he 
does   not   mean    to   attach   to   it   any   Messianic   conception,   but 
to  designate  the  prophet  as  a  man  always  taking  the  right  way 
(cf.    also    al-muhtadl   in   the  fifth   verse   of   the   same   poem,   or 
al-murshad   likewise   in   a    dirge   on    the   prophet,    Ibn    Sa'd   XI 
94,  9).     Among  the  ancient  caliphs,  this  epithet  has  often  been 
applied  in  Sunnitic  circles  to  'AH.     In  a  comparative  view  of 
the  prophet's  immediate   successors  Abu  Bekr   is   designated   as 
a  pious   ascetic,   'Omar   as  energetic  and  sure,  'Ali  as  Mdiyan 
mahdiyyan,     ''guide    and    rightly    guided"     {Usd    al-glwba   IV 
31,  3).     Suleiman  ibn  Surad,  Husein's  avenger,  calls  the  latter 
(after  his  death)   malidi,  son  of  the  mahdi   (Tabari  II  546,  11). 
The  court  poets  of  the  Omayyad  caliphs  also  apply  this  title  to 
their  princes.     Farazdak  bestows  it  on  the  Omayyad    (Naka'id 
51  V.  60)  precisely  as  on  the  prophet  (ibid.  v.  40).     We  find  the 
same   term    very   often   in   Jerir    (Diwan   ed.    Cairo    1313,    I   58, 
16  applied  to  'Abdalmalik;    II  40,  7  from  below  to  Suleiman;    94, 
5  from  below  to  Hisham;    cf.  imam  al-huda  above  141).     Under 
the  Omayyad  princes  pious  people,  however,  regarded  'Omar  II 
as  the  true  Mahdi   (Ibn  Sa'd  V  245,  5  ff.).     Not  till  later  (5-6/ 
1180)    did  a  flattering  poet,  Ibn   al-Ta'awIdi,  give  this   epithet 
to  his  caliph  in  an  enlarged  sense:    The  'Abbaside  cahph    (al- 


284  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Nasir)  whom  he  is  glorifying,  is  the  Mahdi;  it  is  superfluous 
to  await  any  other  messianic  Mahdi  (Diwan  of  the  R.  ed.  Mar- 
goliouth— Cairo— 1904  103  v.  5,  6). 

The  use  of  the  word  to  denote  Moslem  converts  is  well  known 
(the  Turks  use  the  form  Muhtedi).  Two  of  the  rectors  of  the 
Azhar  mosque  were  given  the  surname  al-Mahdi,  used  in  this 
capacity:  (1)  the  Copt  Muhammed  (orig.  Hibat  Allah)  al- 
Hifni  (1812-1815)  and  Sheikh  Muhammed  al-'Abbasi  al-Mahdi 
(in  the   7th  and   8th   decades  of  the  previous   century;     ZDMG 

LIII  702  ff.). 

2.  For  the  Mahdi  doctrine  in  Islam  and  its  applications  see  James 
Darmesteter  ^'Le  Mahdi  depuis  les  origines  de  1 'Islam  jusqu'a 
nos  jours"  (Paris  1885);  Snouck  Hurgronje  in  the  '* Revue 
coloniale  Internationale"  1886);  van  Vloten  ^^Les  croyances 
messianiques "  in  his  ''Eeeherches  sur  la  Domination  arabe" 
etc.  (Amsterdam,  Academy,  1894)  54  ff.;  the  same  in  ZDMG 
LII  218  ff.;  E.  Blochet,  '*Le  Messianisme  dans  THeterodoxie 
Musulmane"  (Paris  1903);  I.  Friedlander  ''Die  Messiasidee 
im  Islam"  (Festschrift,  fur  A.  Berliner,  Frankfurt  a.  M.  1903, 
116-130). 

3.  Especially  in  Maghribite  (N.  African)  Islam  have  such  move- 
ments constantly  arisen;  the  Maghribites  hold  the  traditional 
belief  that  the  Mahdi  will  appear  on  Moroccan  territory  (Doutte, 
' '  Les  Marabouts, ' '  Paris  1900,  74)  for  which  also  certain  Hadiths 
are  brought  forward  (ZDMG  XLI  116  ff.).  There  have  also 
appeared  in  Maghrib  from  time  to  time  people  who  claimed  to 
be  the  reappearing  Jesus  and  under  this  title  stirred  up  their 
followers  to  fight  foreign  rule  (Doutte  1.  c.  68).  While  some  of 
these  Mahdi  movements  (as  e.  g.  that  which  led  to  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Almohad  kingdom  in  Maghrib)  exercised  little 
influence  after  the  dissipation  of  the  political  events  superinduced 
by  them,  the  traces  of  such  movements  among  Shi'itic  sects  con- 
tinue to  the  present  day.  In  the  last  centuries  several  such 
sectarian  movements  have  occurred  in  various  parts  of  Indie 
Islam  through  persons  who  claimed  to  be  the  expected  Mahdi, 
and  whose  adherents  up  to  the  present  day  believe  that  the  expec- 
tation of  the  Mahdi  was  fulfilled  in  such  and  such  a  person.  Such 
sects  are  therefore  called  Gliair-Malidi,  i.  e.  people  who  no  longer 
look  for  the  coming  of  a  Mahdi.  Some  of  them  (Mahdawi 
sects)  maintain  a  wildly  fanatical  attitude  toward  others.  Details 
about  these  sects  can  be  found  in  E.  Sell,  ' '  The  Faith  of  Islam ' ' 
(London  1880)  81-83.  In  the  district  of  Kirman  (Beluchistan) 
the  memory  of  an  Indian  Mahdi  of  the  end  of  the  XV  century 
still  lingers.  As  against  the  orthodox  Sunni  (Namazi,  so-called 
because  they  practice  the  legal  Salat-rite,  known  as  Namaz)  we 
there  find  the  sect  of  the  Dikri  whose  adherents  belong  mostly 


NOTES.  285 

to  the  nomad  population  and  trace  their  teachings  and  practices 
(deviating  from  orthodox  Islam)  to  a  Mahdi,  Muhammed  of 
Jaunpur,  who,  driven  from  India,  and  wandering  from  place 
to  place  died  in  the  vaUey  of  Hehnend  (1505)  (Revue  du  Monde 
Musuhnan  V  142).  In  the  ''night  of  fate"  (leilat  al-kadr, 
27  Eamadan)  sacred  to  orthodox  Islam,  they  erect  a  circle  of 
stones  (da'ira.  cf.  Herklots  Qanoon-i-Islam  259)  within  which 
they  practice  their  heretical  ritual.  For  this  reason  this  sect  is 
called  Da'ire  wall,  i.  e.  ''People  of  the  circle."  Josef  Horo- 
vitz,  to  whom  I  owe  this  latter  information,  is  preparing  a  special 
publication  on  these  Da'ire  Wali. 

4.  M.  Hartmann,    "Der  Islamische  Orient"    III  152. 

5.  E.  g.  Brockelmann,  "Gesch.  d.  Arab.  Lit."  I  431  No.  25. — criti- 
cism of  the  Mahdi-Hadiths  in  Ibn  Khaldun  "Mukaddima"  (ed. 
Bulak  1284)  261.  The  Meccan  scholar  Shihab  al-din  Ahmed 
Ibn  Hajar  al-Heitami  (d.  973/1565)  has  gathered  together  in 
various  writings  under  the  theological  authorities  of  orthodoxy, 
the  Mahdi  tradition  of  Sunnite  Islam.  He  has  written  a  special 
work  on  this  subject,  which  is  noted  by  Brockelmann  1.  c.  II  388, 
No.  6,  and  in  which  he  refers  to  a  Fetwa  (Fatdwl  hadlthiifya. 
Cairo  1307  27-32),  in  which  he  summarizes  the  Sunni  teachings 
on  the  Mahdi  doctrine,  on  the  occurrences  to  accompany  his 
appearance  as  well  as  on  false  Mahdis.  This  Fetwa  gave  rise 
to  a  query  "about  people,  who  believe  that  a  man  who  died 
forty  years  before  was  the  Mahdi  promised  for  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  who  consider  those  as  unbelievers  who  do  not  believe 
in  this  Mahdi."  This  belief  probably  refers  to  someone  who 
appeared  as  the  Mahdi  in  the  tenth  century,  to  whom  we  have 
referred  in  the  above  note  3.  Ibn  Hajar  has  furthermore  col- 
lected orthodox  Mahdi  traditions  in  a  discourse  against  Shiism 
held  by  him  in  Mecca  in  the  year  1543,  Al-^awa'ik  al-muhriJca 
(Cairo  1312)   97-100. 

6.  The  "Twelvers"  weaken  this  objection  by  the  claim  that  the 
text  of  the  tradition  confirming  the  Mahdi  has  been  corrupted. 
Instead  of  ' '  and  the  name  of  his  father  agrees  with  the  name  of 
my  (i.  e.  the  prophet's)  fatlier  (abi)  "  it  originally  read  "with 
that  of  my  son"  (ibni)  ;  i.  e.  the  name  of  the  Mahdi 's  father, 
Hasan,  is  like  that  of  the  prophet's  grandson.  That  the  grand- 
son should  be  designated  as^ibn,  forms  no  objection.  (Introduc- 
tion to  Menini's  commentary  to  the  pasan  of  Behfi  al-din 
al-'Amili  on  the  Mahdi,  in  the  appendix  to  the  Keslikul  395.) 

7.  Cf.   "  Abhandlungen  zur  Arab.  Philol."   II,  LXII  ff. 

8.  Of  certain  selected  individuals  it  is  believed  that  they  enjoyed 
personal  intercourse  with  the  hidden  Imam;  examples  are  to 
be  found  in  Tusi,  "List  of  Shi' ah  books"  353;  Kazimi  1.  c. 
230-231.      The   Egyptian    §ufi   'Abd   al-Wahhab   al-Sha'rimi    (d. 


286  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

973/1565),    who    himself    had    extravagant    hallucinations    about 
mystic   adventures,   tells   in   his   Sufi   biographies   that  an   older 
§ufi  colleague  Hasan  al-' Iraki  (d.  about  930/1522)  told  him  that 
in  his  early  youth  he  had  entertained  the  Mahdi  under  his  roof 
in    Damascus    for    a   full   week,   and   was   instructed   by   him   in 
Sufi   practices    of    devotion.      He    owed    his    great    age   to    the 
blessing    of   the   Mahdi;     at   the   time    of   this   intercourse   with 
Sha'rani,  Hasan  is  said  to  have  been  127  years  old.     Fifty  years 
he  spent  in  long  journeys  to  China  and  India,  at  the  end  of  which 
he  settled  in  Cairo,  where  he  suffered  much  from  the  jealousy  of 
other  Sufi  people.     They  regarded  him  probably  as  a  swindling 
adventurer.       {Lawakili    al-anwdr    f%    tahakdt    ol-aTchyar — Cairo 
1299 — II  191.)      There  are  also  fables  about  written  intercourse 
with  the  hidden  Mahdi.     The  father  of  the  famous  Shi'ite  the- 
ologian Abu  Ja'far  Muhammed  b.  *Ali  ibn  Babuya  al-Kummi  (d. 
351/991)  is  said  to  have  sent  a  written  petition  to  the    ''master 
of  time"    through  the  mediation  of  a   certain  'Ali  ibn  Ja'far 
ibn  al-Aswad.     In  this  he,  having  no  children,  besought  his  inter- 
cession   with    God   to   remove   this   misfortune.      Soon    after,   he 
received    from    the    Mahdi    a    written    answer    in    which    he    was 
promised  the  birth  of  two  sons.     The  first  born  was  Abu  Ja'far 
himself,   who   throughout  his   life   boasted   of   the   fact   that  he 
owed    his    existence    to    the    intercession    of    the    sdliib    al-amr, 
(Najashi,  Eijal  184).    Concerning  a  scholar  who  corresponded  with 
the  hidden  Imam  about  legal  questions  see  ibid.  251  below. 
■9.  Such  a  Kasida  to  the  hidden  Imam  was  composed  by  the  court 
scholar   of  the  Persian   Shah  'Abbas,  Beha  al-din  al-'Amili    (d. 
1031/1622)    embodied   in   his   KeshMl    87-89;     the   text   of   this 
Kasida  and  the  commentary  by  Ahmed   (not  Muh.,  Brockelmann 
I  415,  18)  al-Menini  (d.  1108/1696,  whose  biography  wiU  be  found 
in  Muradi,  Silh  al-durar  1  133-45),  are  published  in  the  appendix 
to  this  work  (Bulak  1288)  394-435;    cf.  also    "Eevue  Africaine" 
1906,  243. 
10.  Eevue  du  Monde  mus.  VI   535.     The  Fetwa   of  the  'Ulema  of 
Nejef  is  given  in  translation  in  ibid.  681.    We  read  there:    "All 
zeal  must  be  used  to   strengthen   the   constitution  by  means   of 
holy  war  while  at  the  same  time  holding  to  the  stirrups  of  the 
Imam  of  the  age — ^may  our  life  be  his  ransom.     The   slightest 
contravention  of  this  law,  and  the  slightest  carelessness   (in  the 
fulfillment    of   this    duty)    are    equivalent    to   the    desertion    and 
opposition  to  his  Majesty."     The  latter  title  does  not  refer,  as 
the   translator   explains,   to   the  prophet  Mohammed,   but  to   the 
"Imam  of  the  age"    mentioned  in  the  preceding  sentence,  i.  e. 
the   hidden    Mahdi-Imam.      The   advocates    of    the    anti-constitu- 
tional reaction  similarly  refer  in  a  docmnent,  favoring  the  with- 
•drawal  of  the  constitution,  to  the  fact  that  this  step  of  the  Shah 's 


NOTES.  287 


( c 


is   inspired   by   God   and   the   Imam  of  the  age"     (Revue   du 
Monde  mus.  VII  151). 

XIII.  1.  Already  noticed  by  Mukaddasi  ed.  de  Goeje  238,  6. 

2.  ZDMG  LIII  381. 

3.  Muhammed  Bakir  Damad,  al-Bawashih  dl-samawijya  fi  shark 
al-ahadUh  al-imamiyya   (Bombay  1311)    133. 

4.  Kazimi  1.  c.  99.  The  Fatimide  caliph  al-Mustansir  says  expressly 
in  a  little  poem  ascribed  to  him,  that  his  profession  of  faith  is 
al-tauJnd  wal-'adl;  Ibn  al-Kalanisi,  "History  of  Damascus"  e<l. 
Amedroz  95,  11. 

5.  For  the  proof  of  this  fact  it  may  suffice  to  point  to  a  few  of 
the  published  theological  works  of  the  Shi'ites  which  clearly  illus- 
trate the  method  of  Shiitic  dogmatics  in  regard  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Imam.  A  concise  presentation  of  the  Imam  doctrine  is 
given  by  Nasir  al-din  al-Tusi  (d.  672/1273)  in  his  Tajnd 
al-'aJcd'id;  with  the  commentary  of  'Ali  ibn  Muhammed  al- 
Kilshji  (d.  879/1474,  Brockelmann  I  509),  printed  in  Bombay  1301 

(see  page  399  ff.).  Nasir  al-din  al  Tusi  has  further  briefly  illus- 
trated the  Imam  doctrine  in  the  Shi'ite  sense,  in  contrast  to  the 
Sunni  point  of  view,  in  his  glosses  to  the  Muhassal  of  Fakhr 
al-din  al-Razi  (Cairo  1323:  Talkhis  al-Muhassal,  Brockelmann  I 
507  no.  22)  176  ff.  Hasan  ibn  Yusuf  ibn  al-Mutahhar  al-Hilli  (d. 
726/1326)  ;  Kitdh  al-alfein  al-fdrik  heina-l-sidTc  wal-mein  (Book 
of  the  2,000  which  differentiates  between  truth  and  lies,  i.  e.  1,000 
proofs  for  the  truth  of  the  Shi'ite  Imam  doctrine  and  1,000  refuta- 
tions of  the  opposing  objections,  Bombay  1298)  ;  by  the  same 
author,  Al-Bab  al-hddl' ashar  (the  11th  chapter).  Al-Hilli  has 
added  this  independent  compendium  of  dogmatics  as  a  supplement 
to  his  extract  from  the  Misbah  al-Mutahajid  (Brockelmann  I  405) 
of  Abu  Ja'far  al  Tusi,  a  work  consisting  of  ten  chapters  dealing 
solely  with  the  ritual.  It  has  been  published  with  a  commentary 
of  Mikdad  ibn  'Abdallah  al-Hilli  (Brockelmann  II  199,  Naul- 
Kashwar  Press  1315/1898).  Of  the  later  literature  the  work  of 
Dildar  'Ali,  Mir 'at  al-'ukul  fVilm  al-usid,  an  admirable  treatise 
on  Shi'itic  dogmatism  in  two  volumes  (one  of  them  dealing  with 
the  tauMd,  the  other  the  'adl),  printed  in  Lucknow  (printing 
press  of  Imad  al-Islam)   1319,  is  especially  worthy  of  notice. 

XIV.  1.  A    thorough    insight    into    such    differences    is    furnished    in    the 

book  cd-Intisdr  by  the  Shi'ite  scholar  Ali  al-Murtada  'Alam 
al-huda  (d.  436/1044  in  Baghdad).  In  this  work,  published  in 
a  Bombay  lithograph  of  the  year  1315  of  the  Hijra,  the  ritualis- 
tic and  legal  differences  of  the  Shi'ites  in  their  relation  to  the 
Sunni  Madahib  are  thoroughly  examined.  It  is  the  best  aid  for 
a  knowledge  of  these  questions.  In  European  literature  Mos- 
lem law  in  its  Shi'ite  form  is  treated  by  Querry,  ''Droit  Musul- 
man,"    (3  vols.,  Paris  1871). 


288  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

2.  Cf.  Noldeke-Festsclirift  323. 

3.  For  this  difference  we  refer  to  the  vivid  narrative  in  the  Auto- 
MograpJiie  of  'Umdra  al-Jemanl  ed.  H.  Derenbourg  (Paris  1897) 
126.  It  forms  the  frequent  object  of  Sunna-Shi' ite  polemics; 
e.  g.  Abu  Yahya  al-Jorjani  (Tusi,  ''List  of  Shy' a  books''  28, 
5)  wrote  an  account  of  a  disputation  between  a  Shi'ite  and  a 
Murji  (Sunni)  on  rubbing  foot-wear,  eating  jirri-fish  and 
other  questions.  The  fish  mentioned  here  (also  called  in'kl%s-=. 
e7xe\i;s  and  jirrlth)  is  a  kind  of  eel  (Murane,  see  Imm.  Low  in 
Noldeke-Festschrift  552  below),  the  eating  of  which  according  to 
the  tradition  of  the  Shi'ites,  'AH  is  said  to  have  condemned; 
see  interesting  details  about  this  in  Jahiz;  Kital)  al-liayawdn  I 
111  and  Kulini  1.  c.  217.  The  popular  belief  regards  the  jirri 
as  well  as  other  kinds  of  animals  as  bewitched  men,  Jahiz  1.  c. 
VI  24,  6.  Cf.  for  the  identification  of  this  fish  name  further 
Imm.  Low  and  Noldeke  in  Zeitschr.  f.  Assyr.  XXII  85-86. 

4.  E.  G.  Browne  ' '  An  abridged  translation  of  the  History  of  Tabar- 
istan  by  Ibn  Isfendiyar"  (London  1905,  Gibb  Memorial  series 
II)  175.  The  change  in  the  call  to  prayer  in  this  sense  is  the 
public  indication  of  the  Shi'itic  occupation  of  a  district  formerly 
controlled  by  the  Sunnites  (cf.  Makrizi  KMtat  II  270  ff.).  In 
the  same  manner  General  Jauhar  announced  the  victory  of  the 
Fatimide  regiment,  in  the  mosque  of  Tulun  and  Amr  in  the 
capital  of  Egypt  (Gottheil,  in  the  Journal  Americ.  Orient.  Soc. 
XXVII  220  note  3).  The  rebel  Basasiri,  in  order  to  testify  to 
the  recognition  of  the  Fatimide  caliphate  in  Baghdad,  has  the 
Shi'itic  formula  added  to  the  adan  (Ibn  al-Kalanisi,  "History 
of  Damascus,"  ed.  Amedroz  88,  5  fr.  below).  An  example 
from  South  Arabia  is  to  be  found  in  Khazraji,  "The  Pearl- 
strings"  translated  by  Eedhouse  (London  1906,  Gibb  M.  S.  Ill) 
I  p.  182.  On  the  other  hand  the  rejection  of  the  Fatimide  and 
the  return  to  the  'Abbaside  rulership  in  Damascus  and  other 
places  in  Syria  is  proclaimed  through  the  abolition  of  that  for- 
mula (Fariki  in  Amedroz  1.  c.  109,  Ibn  al-Kalanisi  301,  14). 
The  same  thing  was  ordered  by  the  crazy  Fatimide  al-Hakim 
when  in  one  of  his  fits  of  madness  he  aUowed  the  attributes  of 
Sunnism  to  be  reinstated.  (Ahulmalidsin  ed.  Popper  599,  10.) 
When  in  the  year  307/919  North  Africa  was  subjected  to  Shi'itic 
rule,  the  new  ruler  had  the  tongue  of  the  pious  mu'eddin  'Arus 
torn  out  and  executed  him  under  great  martyrdom,  because  wit- 
nesses testified  that  in  the  call  to  prayer  he  did  not  add  the 
Shi'itic  supplement.  (Baydn  al-Mughrih  ed.  Dozy  I  186.)  Cf. 
the  order  of  the  Shi'  ite  conqueror  after  the  fall  of  the  Aghlabides, 
ibid.  I,  148;    231. 

5.  The  insignificant  character  of  the  ritualistic  differences  becomes 
still  clearer  if  we  examine  the  various  old  formulas  of  the  con- 


NOTES.  ,8, 


fession   of  faith    (aka'id)    of  the   Sunnite  authonties'      A   nun, 
ber  of  such  '  Aka 'id-formulas  have  been  collected  by  Duncan  B 


and    Constitutional    Theory''     (New    Yo^H^^I;   l^TT:! 
Enghsh  translation.    Among  the  old  formulas,  that  of  Abu  Ja'far 
Alp.ad  al  Tahawl   (d.  321/933)    (printed  Kasan  1902  with  com 
ments  by  S^raJ  al-dln  'Omar  ca-Hindl,  (d.  773/1371),  envoys  .r«  t 

ZTZof      r  r^  T'  ™''  ''^  ^'^^^  '^^^^--^  of  the  two's^;l 
(order  of  caliphs,  estimation  of  the  companions)  are  carefully  con- 
sidered and  defined  in  the  Sunnitic  sense.     Of  ritualistic  difTer- 
ences     however,    only    one    is    taken    into    consideration,    namely, 
whether  the  mere  rubbing  of  the  foot-wear  is  permissible  in  cases 
where  washing  the  feet  before  prayer  is  difficult.     The  Shi'ites 
are    unwilling   to   recognize    such    a    substitute.     In    the   al-Fah 
al  akhar  attributed  to  Abu-Hanifa,  following  upon  the  command 
to  honor  all    '^  companions "    and  to  consider  no  one  as  a  Kafir 
because  of  his  actual   sins,   the   only  reference  to   the  ritual  is 
that    ^Hhe   rubbing   of   foot-wear   is    Sunna,   and   the   Tarawili- 
nte  during  Eamadan  nights  is  Sunna,  and  praying  behind  pious 
and  sinning   (Imams)    is  permitted,  if  otherwise  they  belong  to 
the   true   believers    (cf.   above  p.    90).     In   a   treatise  known   as 
Wasiyya,  likewise  ascribed  to  Abu  Hanifa,  the  rubbing  of  the 
foot-wear  is  also  the  only  reference  to  the  ritual.     He  who  chal- 
lenges  its   permissibility   is   under    suspicion    of   being   an   unbe- 
liever.     In    the    same    sense,    Ghazali    quotes    the    utterance    of 
Du-l-nun:    Three  things  belong  to  the  characteristics  of  Sunna, 
the  rubbing  of  the  foot-wear,  the  careful  participation  in  prayer 
in  public  assemblies,  and  love  for  ancestors  (the   ''Companions") 
(Eitah    al-iMisdd  fi-l-i'tikdd.     Cairo,   Kabbani,   o.   J.    221).     It 
is  difficult  to  see  why  this  particular  bagatelle  should  lie  given 
so   much    weight   and    be    made   almost    equivalent    to    dogmatic 
principles,      ''He   who    disapproves   of   the   mnsh    (rubbing)    has 
indeed  rejected  Sunna:    such  an  attitude  is  the  mark  of  Satan" 
(Ibn    Sa'd   VI    192,   5ff.).      This   point   of   view   enables   us   to 
understand    the    careful   emphasis   placed   upon   permissibility    of 
mash  in  the  biographical  traditions  of  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  34,  20;    75, 
10;    cf.  especially  83,  12;     162,  4;    166,  14;    168,  6.  10.     These 
traditions   are   intended   to   justify   the   Sunnitic   concessions,   all 
the  more  so  because  in  them  'AH  himself  is  represented  as  the 
one  who  approves  of  the  custom  rejected  by  the  Shi'  ites. 
6.  Cf.  my    "Beitrage  zur  Literaturgeschichte  der  Schi'a"   49. 
XV.  1.  See  on  this  type  of  marriage  E.  Westermark,    "The  History  of 
Human  Marriage"    chapter  XXIII  (2  ed.  London  1894)   517  flF. 

2.  Theodor  Gomperz,    "Greek  Thinkers"    III,  123. 

3.  Eobertson    Smith,     "Kinship    and    Marriage    among    the    early 


290  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Arabians"-  83  ff.;  Wellliausen  in  Nachrichten  Ges.  d.  Wiss. 
Gothingen  1893,  464  ff.;  Lammens,  Mo'awija  409  (Melanges 
Beyrouth  III  273).  The  accounts  in  regard  to  the  abrogation 
of  Muta'  marriage  in  G.  A.  Wilken,  ''Het  Matriarchaat  bei  de 
oude  Arabieren"  (Amsterdam  1884)  10  ff.  On  mut'a  cf.  also 
Caetani's  work  1.  c.  894  ff. 

4.  Abu-1-' Abbas  al-Jorjani,  al-Muntakliab  min  Mndydt  al-udaha 
(Cairo  1908)  108. 

5.  After  the  enumeration  of  the  degrees  of  kinship  which  prevent 
marriage:  *'and  in  addition  he  has  allowed  you  to  obtain 
(women)  through  your  possessions  in  honorable  estate,  not  in 
adultery,  and  to  those  whom  you  have  enjoyed  (therefore  Mut^a), 
give  their  reward  (dowry)  according  to  law;  and  it  will  not  be 
accounted  a  sin  if  you  agree  to  give  more  than  the  legal  amount. ' ' 
This  is  the  text,  upheld  by  a  number  of  traditions,  in  which  the 
legitimacy  of  the  Mut' a-marriage  is  set  forth.  According  to 
a  notice  in  HazimI,  Kltab  al-i'tibdr  fi  hay  an  al-ndsiTch  wal- 
mansukh  min  al-dthdr  (Haidarabad  1319)  179;  in  the  original 
Koran  text  there  stood  after  the  word  ''enjoyed"  the  addi- 
tional words:  ild  ajalin  musamman  (to  a  fixed  limit  of  time). 
This  addition  is  specifically  handed  down  as  the  reading  of 
Ibn  'Abbas;  and  through  it  the  application  of  the  text  to  a 
temporary  marriage  gains  additional  support.  A  concise  view 
of  the  difference  from  a  Shi'  itic  point  of  view  is  given  by  Murtada, 
Intisdr  42. 

6.  See  on  such  marriages  in  Persia  E.  G.  Browne,  "A  Year  amongst 
the  Persians"  462.  On  the  looseness  of  the  marriage  bond 
amongst  a  portion  of  the  Shi'ites  a  striking  remark  of  Jahiz  is 
to  be  foimd  quoted  in  Muhddardt  al-udahd  (Cairo  1287)  by 
al-Eaghib  al-Isfahani  II   140    (wikaya). 

7.  Cf.  for  the  Shi' itic  standpoint  Paul  Kitabji  Khan,  "Droit 
Musulman  Shy'ite.  Le  mariage  et  le  divorce"  (Lausanne-Dis- 
sertation 1904)   79  ff. 

XVI.  1.  Kumeit,  HdsMmiyydt  ed.  Horovitz  VI.  v.  9. 

2.  On  the  most  important  of  these  sanctuaries  we  now  have  a 
monograph  by  Arnold  Noldeke  "Das  Heiligtum  al-Husains  zu 
Kerbela"    (Berlin  1909,  Tiirkische  Bibliothek  XI). 

XVII.  1.  Not  to  mention  incorrect   older   statements   of  ancient  times,  I 

will  give  only  two  examples  of  the  persistency  of  this  error 
drawn  from  the  present.  Even  H.  Derenbourg  says  in  his  lecture 
on  "La  science  des  Eeligions  et  I'Islamisme"  (Paris  1886)  76: 
"La  sounna  ...  est  rejetee  par  les  Schi'ites, "  while  Sir 
J.  W.  Eedhouse  writes  in  his  417th  note  to  Kiazraji's  "Pearl 
string"  71:  "the  SM'a  and  other  heterodox  Muslims  pay  little 
or  no  regard  to  tradition."  Still  more  surprising  is  the  fact 
that  a  short  time  ago  a  Moslem  jurist  in  Cairo  committed  the 


NOTES.  291 

same  error  in  regard  to  the  difference  between  the  Shi'ites  and 
Sunnites  with  reference  to  tradition  (Dr.  Riad  Ghali,  "De  la 
Tradition  consideree  comme  source  du  droit  musulman."  I'aris 
1909  25-27). 

2.  Bada'i'  al-hada'ih  (Cairo  1316)  I  176  (on  the  margin  of 
Ma'ahid  altansis). 

3.  It  is  reported  of  'Ubeidallah  ibn  Musa  (d.  in  Kufa  213/828)  a 
contemporary  of  the  caliph  Ma'mun,  that  he  handed  down 
Hadiths  with  a  Shi'itic  bias  (Ibn  Sa'd  VI  279,  13);  tlie  same 
accusation  is  brought  against  his  contemporary  Khalid  ibn 
Makhlad  (ibid.  283,  24). 

4.  The  Shi'ite  theologians  are  divided  into  two  parties  on  the 
very  question  as  to  whether  the  decisions  made  in  recognized 
traditions  stand  on  the  same  level  of  authority  with  other 
sources  of  legal  deductions.  Opposed  to  the  ATchbdrii/yan,  i.  e. 
those  who,  drawing  their  law  exclusively  from  credible  traditional 
reports  (akhbar)  reject  the  application  of  speculative  methods, 
stand  the  usuliyyun,  who  accept  also  the  kiyas  (analogy)  and  simi- 
lar subjective  methods  as  ''sources"  (usul).  The  Shi' ism  pre- 
dominating in  Persia  belongs  to  the  latter  party.  The  same 
division  of  opinion  in  regard  to  principles  is  found  also  among 
the  Sunnites.  Cf.  the  two  parties,  the  akhbariyya  and  kalamiyya, 
mentioned  by  Shahrastani  (131,  7th  line  from  below),  fighting 
one  another  with  the  sword. 

5.  In  some  instances  Shi' ism  is  introduced  into  Persian  districts 
(Kumm)    by  Arab  colonists;     (Yakut  IV  176,  4ff.). 

6.  Tabari  I  3081,  10.  14. 

7.  Carra  de  Vaux,  "Le  Mahometisme;  le  genie  semitique  et  le 
genie  aryen  dans  I'lslam"    (Paris  1898)  142. 

8.  The  indifference  of  the  Imamites  towards  ceremonial  law  is 
already  referred  to  by  the  polemic  writer  Shuhfur  ibn  Tahir  al 
Isfaraini  (d.  1078) — no  doubt  to  an  exaggerated  degree.  See 
the  excerpt  by  I.  Friedlander :  ' '  The  Heterodoxies  of  the  Shiites ' ' 
II  61,  20. 

8a.  Kult.  d.  Gegenw.  122,  14  fr.  below. 

9.  'Zahiriten  61  ff.,  ZDMG  LIII  382  cf.  Querry  1.  c.  I  44  in  the 
chapter  on  "Les  etres  impurs  et  les  substances  impures,"  no. 
10,  is  L'infidele  .  .  .  "tels  sent  les  sectateurs  des  ennemis  de 
1  'imam  '  Ali  et  les  heretiques. ' ' 

9a.  See  Vol.  I  Chap.  16  of  James  Morier's  "The  Adventures  of 
Hajji  Baba  of  Ispahan"  to  which  in  the  Chicago  ed.  (1895) 
Professor  E.  G.  Browne  has  contributed  a  valuable  introduction. 

10.  J.  E.  Polak,   "Persian.  Das  Land  und  sein  Bewohner"    (Leipzig 
1865)  I  128,  13. 

11.  Ibid.  II  55;    cf.  356,  8. 


292  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

12.  Ibid.  II  271,  2. 

13.  E.  G.  Browne,   "A  Year  amongst  the  Persians"    371  below. 

14.  Eenan,  ''Mission  de  Phenicie"  (Paris  1864)  633;  cf.  also 
Lammens  ''Sur  la  Frontiere  nord  de  la  Terre  promise"  (in  the 
Revue  ''Les  Etudes"  Paris  1899,  February  and  March)  5  ff . 
of  the  reprint.  It  is  a  mistake  to  count  the  Metawile  among 
the  extreme  Shi'ites  (like  the  Nusairia)  ;  they  are  regular 
Imamites;  their  religious  teachers  at  times  receive  their  training 
in  Persia. 

15.  ''East  of  the  Jordan"  (London  1881)  306.  Lortet  reports  the 
same  of  them,  "La  Syrie  d'aujourd'hui"  (Paris  1884)  115  with 
the  absurd  insinuation  "a  ces  minuties  intolerantes  oii  recon- 
nait  les  pratiques  de  I'ancien  judaisme. "  For  the  older  litera- 
ture we  may  refer  to  the  description  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Metawile  Shi'ites  given  by  Volney,  who  traveled  through  Syria 
in  1783-1785.  "lis  se  reputent  souille  par  1 'attouchement  des 
etrangers;  et  contre  1 'usage  general  du  levant,  ils  ne  boivent 
ni  ne  mangent  dans  le  vase  qui  a  servi  a  une  personne  qui  n'est 
pas  de  leur  sects;  ils  ne  s'asseyent  meme  pas  a  la  meme  table." 
"Voyage  en  Syrie  et  en  Egypte  (Paris  1787)  79.  The  same  is 
reported  of  the  Shi'itic  Nakhdwla  (more  correctly  nawakhila 
"date  planters")  who  settled  in  the  surroundings  of  Medina 
and  who  trace  their  descent  to  the  ancient  Ansars.  ' '  They  count 
both  Jew  and  Christian  as  unclean,  being  as  scrupulous  in  this 
particular  as  the  Persians,  whose  rules  they  follow  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  religious  purifications"  ("With  the  Pilgrims  to 
Mecca.  The  great  pilgrimage"  by  Haji  Khan  and  Wilfrid 
Sparray  1902,  233). 

16.  Cf.  more  fully  in  my  treatise  "Islamisme  et  Parsisme"  (Actes 
du  I  Congres  d'Histoire  des  Religions"  I  [Paris  1901] — 119 — 
147). 

17.  D.  Menant  in    "Revue  du  Monde  Musulman"    III,  219. 

18.  Murtada,  Intisdr  155.  157.  This  question  of  Shi'itic  law  is 
treated  also  in  the  treatise,  by  al-Sheikh  al  Mufid,  highly  regarded 
by  the  Imamites  (Brockelmann  I,  188,  15,  who  incorrectly 
describes  the  treatise  as  "Concerning  sacrificial  offerings";  it 
deals  with  the  ordinary  killing  of  animals).  Beha  al-din  al-'Amili 
also  wrote  a  special  treatise  "on  the  prohibition  to  eat  the  meat 
of  animals  slaughtered  by  the  ahl  al-kitab. "  (Mss.  Berlin, 
Petermann  247.)  At  the  court  of  the  Sefewide  Shah  'Abbas, 
the  Shi'ite  theologians  held  a  disputation  with  Sheikh  Khidr 
al-Maridini,  the  representative  of  the  Turkish  Sultan  Ahmed, 
on  this  question  (Muhibbi,  Khulasat  al-athar  II  130).  The 
Shi'ites  are  intolerant  in  the  matter  of  the  dietary  law,  even 
towards  Moslems  whom  they  regard  as  heretics.  (Ibn  Teymiyya 
Easa'il  I  278,  6.) 


'■:, 


NOTES.  203 

19.  'Omar  II  specifically  permitted  the  eating  of  animals  slauglitered 
by  Samaritans  (Ibn  Sa'd  V  260,  15);  but  this  is  not  generally 
accepted.  Eegarding  Sabians  cf.  ZDMG  XXXII  392.  In  tlie  later 
dismal  development  of  religious  practices,  some  Sunni  teachers 
have  shown  the  disposition  to  prohibit  meat  slauglitered  by  the 
ahl  al-kitab  (Jews)  ;  but  they  have  been  opposed  by  the  explicit 
statement  of  Sura  5,  v.  7  cf.  Steinschneider.  ''Polemische  und 
apologetische  Literatur  in  Arab.     Sprache"  151. 

20.  The  later  development  in  regard  to  this  question  appears  like- 
wise to  have  resulted  in  a  more  exclusive  attitude  among  the 
Sunnites;  see  Th.  W.  JuynboU,  ''Handbuch  des  Islamischeu 
Gesetzes ' '    221. 

21.  Cf.  Lammens,    ''Mo'awiyya"    293  (Melanges  Beyrouth  III  157). 

22.  Murtada  1.  c.  45;  on  marriage  with  the  women  of  the  Ahl  ttl- 
Mtab  see  Caetani  1.  c.  787.  It  may  be  added  that  ShI'itic  law 
demands  the  exclusion  of  such  women  only  for  a  normal  i)ermanent 
marriage,  for  the  less  binding  trial  marriage  these  women  are 
allowed. 

23.  'Askari    ''Kommentar  zur  Zweiten  Sure,"    215. 

24.  Balddorl  ed.  de  Goeje,  129. 

25.  Kulini  1.  c.  568.  The  saying  has  come  down  from  Imam  Ja'far 
al-Sadik:  ''It  is  better  to  have  one's  child  nursed  by  a  Jewish 
or  a  Christian  woman,  than  to  trust  it  to  a  nurse  belonging  to  the 
Nasibiyya  (enemies  of  'AH)  "    (Najashi  1.  c.  219). 

26.  Kulini  39;    ma  khalafa  al'amma  fafihi  al-rashad. 

XVIII.  1.  See   E.    Strothmann    "Das   Staatsrecht   der   Zeiditen"     (Strass- 

burg  1912). 

2.  Zeitschr.  f.  Assyriologie  (1908)   XXII  317  ff. 

3.  The  system  of  Almied  ibn  al-Kayyal  is  especially  noteworthy, 
Shahrastani  ed.  Cureton  138. 

4.  It  is  nevertheless  worthy  of  mention  that  in  an  old  description 
of  the  phenomena  and  results  incident  to  the  appearance  of  the 
Malidi  the  permission  to  drink  wine  at  that  time  is  emphasized 
(Jahiz,  Hayawdn  V  75,  4). 

5.  Kultur  d.  Gegenw.  126,  7-32. 

6.  A  hateful  picture  in  this  sense  is  given  by  Pseudo-Balkhl,  ed. 
Huart  IV,  8. 

7.  De  Goeje  "Memoire  sur  les  Carmathes  du  Bahrain  et  les  Fati- 
mides"    2  ed.,  Leiden  1880,  especially  158-170. 

8.  Whinfield,    "Masnawi"    169. 

9.  Mas'udi,  Tanbth  ed.  de  Goeje  395,  11. 

10.  On  this  system  and  its  literature  see  the  publication  by  Clement 
Huart  and  Dr.  Riza  Tewfik  in  E.  J.  W.  Gibb  memorial  series 
Vol.  IX  (1909).  G.  Jacob,  "Die  Bektaschijje  im  Verhiiltnis 
zu  verwandten  Erscheinungen. "     (MUnich  1909.) 

XIX.  1.  Ghazali   in   his   confessions    (al-munkid)    enumerates   the   polemic 


294  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

writings  which  he  has  directed  against  this  sect;  one  of  them 
bears  the  name  of  the  caliph,  to  whom  it  is  dedicated  (al-Mustaz- 
hiri).  The  most  interesting  of  these  writings,  both  in  form  and 
content,  is  "the  Just  Scales"  (al-kustas  al-mustakim),  the  po- 
lemic dialogue  mentioned  in  the  text,  between  the  author  and  an 
Isma'ilite   (ed.  Kabbani,  Cairo  1318/1900). 

2.  Cf.  de  Goeje,  Memoire  171. 

3.  Concerning  the  position  of  the  Assassins  within  the  Isma'ilite 
movement,  see  Stanislas  Guyard,  "Un  grand  maitre  des  Assas- 
sins au  temps  de  Saladin."  (Journ.  Asiat.  1877  I  324  ff.)  Cf. 
Ibn  Jubeir,  Travels,  2  ed.  255,  3  ff. 

4.  Cf.  my  article  La  Misdsa  in  Eevue  Africaine  1908,  25. 

5.  About  9,000  individuals.  Regarding  their  settlements  in  Syria  see 
Lammens,  "Au  pays  de  Nosairis"  (in  "Revue  de  1 'Orient  Chre- 
tien"   1900)   54  of  the  reprint,  where  further  literature  is  given. 

6.  Cf.  Freih.  v.  Oppenheim,  "Vom  Mittelmeer  zum  Persischen 
Ges. "  (Berlin  1899)  I  note  133.  In  the  same  work  he  gives  a 
survey  of  the  branches  of  the  Isma^iliyya.  The  Khojas,  however, 
do  not  cling  to  the  "seven-system"  of  the  Isma'ilite  doctrine 
of  Imam;  cf.  the  society  of  Khoja  ithnd  ' asharl  jamd'at  i.  e. 
'Twelver.'     "Revue  du  Monde  Musulman"    VIII  491. 

7.  Revue  du  Monde  Musulman  II  373. 

8.  See  the  article  by  Le  Chatelier  in  "Revue  du  Monde  Musulman" 
I  48-85.  On  the  rank  of  the  Agha  khan  and  its  previous  history 
(in  Persia,  with  his  seat  in  Kehk)  see  S.  Guyard  1.  c.  378  ff. 

9.  Cf.  M.  Hartmann,  "  Mitteilungen  des  Seminars  f.  Orient.  Spr. 
B.  zu  Berlin"  XI,  section  II  25.  The  name  of  Lady  Agha 
Khan  is  also  to  be  found  among  the  leaders  of  the  cultural  move- 
ment among  women  in  India,  Revue  du  Monde  Musulman.  VII 
483,  20. 

10.  Revue  du  Monde  Musulman  IV  852. 

11.  Tr.  ibid.  VI,  548-551. 
XX.  1.  AgMni  XIV  163,  20. 

2.  "Muh.  Studien"   II  331. 

3.  Kazwini  ed.  Wiistenfeld  II   390. 

4.  Harnack,    "Mission  und  Ausbreitung  des  Christentums, "    429. 

5.  Suleiman  al-Adani,  al-Bakura  al-Suleimdniyya  (Beyrouth  1863) 
10,  14;  Rene  Dussaud,  "Histoire  et  Religion  des  Nosairis" 
(Paris  1900)   164,  1. 

6.  Dussaud  1.  c.  where  a  bibliographical  survey  is  also  given.  Cf. 
Archiv.  fiir  Religionswiss.  1900,  85  ff. 

7.  Archiv.  f.  Religionswiss.  1.  c.  90. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
LATER  DEVELOPMENTS. 

In  his  work  on  the  ''Origin  and  Development  of  Moral 
Ideas,  "1  Eduard  Westermarck  discusses  the  influence 
of  conventions  on  the  early  development  of  the  aspect  of 
morality  and  law.  ''In  primitive  communities  custom 
replaces  law;  even  after  the  communal  organization  has 
made  some  progress,  it  may  remain  as  the  only  rule  of 
conduct. ' ' 

With  the  aid  of  extensive  literary  and  historical 
material,  the  author  demonstrates  more  effectively  than 
his  predecessors  the  large  part  to  be  assigned  to  conven- 
tions in  the  unfolding  of  culture  and  law,  both  as  a  stand- 
ard for  legality  and  as  the  basis  of  ethical  and  juridical 
legislation.  Incidentally  he  touches  (page  164)  on  the 
views  of  the  Arab  and  Turkoman  nomads,  but  he  has 
failed  to  estimate  at  its  full  value  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant factors,  to  wit,  the  idea  of  the  Sunna  and  its  signifi- 
cance in  Islam. 

Prom  ancient  times  the  most  important  test  by  which 
the  Arabs  decided  whether  an  act  was  right  and  lawful, 
was  to  find  out  whether  it  corresponded  to  the  norm 
and  custom  inherited  from  their  ancestors.  That  is  to 
be  regarded  as  true  and  right  which  has  its  roots  in 
inherited  views  and  usages  alone,  and  what  is  accepted 
as  law  is  Sunna.  This  was  their  law  and  sanctum,  the 
only  sources  of  their  right  and  religion.  To  pass  beyond 
were  to  sin  against  the  inviolable  rule  of  sacred  custom. 
That  which  is  true  of  practices  is  true  for  the  same 
reason  of  inherited  ideas.  The  general  body  was  not  to 
accept  anything  as  new  which  was  not  in  accord  with 
ancestral  views.-     This   is   illustrated  by  the   attitude 


296  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

of  the  Meccans,  who  steadily  opposed  the  position  of 
the  prophet  announcing  paradise,  hell  and  the  judgment 
day,  by  the  assertion  that  their  ancestors  had  never 
heard  of  any  of  these  things,  and  that  they  would  only 
follow  the  path  laid  out  by  their  ancestors.^  As  against 
the  traditions  handed  down  from  time  immemorial,  the 
doctrine  of  the  prophet  is  din  muhdath,  an  absolutely  new 
gospel,  and  is  therefore  to  be  rejected.^ 

The  Sunna-consciousness  can  be  regarded  from  the 
point  of  view  of  phenomena,  which  Herbert  Spencer 
calls  ''representative  feelings,''  that  is,  organic  results 
gathered  by  a  group  of  mankind  in  the  course  of  cen- 
turies, and  which  become  concentrated  in  an  inherited 
instinct,  and  in  the  case  of  the  individual  forms  the  sub- 
ject of  inheritance.^ 

The  Arabs,  while  thus  abandoning  their  original 
Sunna,  according  to  the  commands  of  Islam,  carried 
over  the  idea  of  Sunna  into  this  very  Islam.  It  thus 
became  the  foundation  of  Islamic  law  and  religion,  to 
be  sure  with  an  important  modification.  Mohammedan- 
ism could  not  appeal  to  heathen  Sunna.  Its  starting 
point,  therefore,  had  to  be  shifted  and  carried  over  to  the 
teachings,  views  and  practices,  of  the  oldest  generations 
of  Moslems,  who  thus  became  the  founders  of  a  Sunna 
of  totally  different  type  from  that  of  the  older  Arabs. 
From  now  on  the  standard  of  conduct  became,  firstly 
that  which  could  be  proved  as  the  custom  and  views  of 
the  prophet,  and  secondly  of  that  of  his  Companions. 
Instead  of  asking  what,  under  the  existing  conditions, 
was  good  or  correct,  it  was  a  question  of  what  the 
prophet  and  the  Companions  had  said  about  the  matter, 
how  they  had  acted,^  and  what  in  consequence  had  been 
passed  on  as  the  right  view  and  attitude.  The  Hadith 
claims  to  transmit  such  standards  to  later  generations 
by  preserving  traditions  regarding  the  utterances  and 
examples  of  those  prototypes  of  truth  and  law.    Where 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  297 

the  Hadith  was  questionable  or  in  the  absence  of  accred- 
ited positive  traditions,  a  large  leeway  was  given  in 
the  course  of  the  early  development  of  Islamic  law  to 
the  conclusions  and  the  judgment  of  the  lawmakers 
(page  55).  No  one,  however,  went  so  far  as  to  (luestion 
the  right  of  Sunna,  when  the  indubitable,  substaiitialed 
tradition  was  at  hand,  which  rendered  further  specuUi- 
tion  superfluous. 

In  this  sense  the  need  of  Sunna  in  Islam  became  a 
'' representative  feeling.''  The  one  care  of  the  jjious 
and  faithful  was  to  agree  with  the  Sunna  of  the  Compan- 
ions, to  act  only  as  the  Sunna  commands,  and  to  avoid 
anything  which  contradicted  it  or  which  could  not  be 
substantiated  by  it.  That  which  contradicts  ancient  cus- 
toms, the  Sunna,  or  according  to  a  stricter  acceptance 
which  is  not  identical  with  it,  they  call  hid' a,  innovation, 
whether  bearing  on  belief,  or  on  the  most  insignificant 
relations  of  everyday  life.'^  The  strict  observers  rejected 
as  hid' a,  every  kind  of  innovation  which  could  not  be 
established  by  the  opinions  and  practices  of  former  days. 

II.  Theoretically  such  a  standard  could  properly  be 
carried  out;  in  actual  practice,  however,  there  was 
bound  to  be  a  collision  at  every  step,  with  the  umjues- 
tioned  theory.  The  unfolding  of  social  conditions,  and 
the  experiences  gathered  in  various  climes  and  through 
changes  resulting  in  totally  different  demands  and  con- 
ditions from  those  prevailing  in  the  days  of  the  Com- 
panions, as  well  as  the  manifold  foreign  antecedents  and 
influences  which  had  to  be  assimilated,  was  bound  to 
make  a  breach  in  the  consistent  adherence  to  the  strict 
Sunna,  as  the  only  criterion  of  right  and  truth.  Con- 
cessions had  to  be  made  and  several  distinctions  intro- 
duced, which  legitimized  many  an  innovation  that  was 
thus  admitted  into  the  domain  of  the  Sunna.  Theories 
arose,  under  what  conditions  hid' a  could  be  accepted,  or 
indeed  could  be  regarded  as  dutiful  and  praiseworthy. 


298  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

This  afforded  a  large  field  for  the  ingenuity  of  the 
theologians  and  casuists,  which  they  have  .cultivated 
down  to  our  own  days. 

In  these  efforts  the  conception  of  ijma'  (consensus  of 
opinion)  became  a  mediating  factor.  Any  custom  that 
has  been  sanctioned  for  a  long  period  becomes  by  virtue 
of  this  fact  Sunna.  At  first  the  pious  theologians  rebelled 
against  hid' a,  but  m  the  course  of  time  it  is  tolerated  as 
ijma%  and  finally  even  at  this  stage  it  becomes  bid' a  to 
oppose  the  innovation,  and  he  who  demands  the  earlier 
practices  is  repudiated  as  an  innovator. 

A  striking  example  is  to  be  found  in  the  universal 
observance  of  the  maulid  al-nahl,  the  birthday  feast  of 
the  prophet  at  the  beginning  of  Rabi  *al-awwal,  sanc- 
tioned by  the  religious  authorities.  As  late  as  the  eighth 
century  of  the  Hijra,  the  theologians  of  Islam  challenged 
its  justification  as  Sunna ;  many  rejected  it  as  an  innova- 
tion. Fetwas  were  drawn  up  for  and  against  it.  Since 
then,  on  the  ground  of  popular  sanction,  it  has  become 
an  essential  part  of  Moslem  life.  It  would  not  occur  to 
any  one  to  think  of  it  as  a  hid' a  in  a  bad  sense.^  The 
same  is  true  of  other  religious  festivals  and  liturgical 
ordinances,  which  arose  in  later  centuries,  and  had  to 
fight  for  recognition,  after  they  had  been  for  a  long  time 
granted  as  hid' a?  The  history  of  Islam  shows,  that  its 
theologians,  however  disinclined  they  themselves  were 
to  accept  new  customs,  were  not  disinclined  to  give  up 
their  opposition  to  customs  that  had  become  established 
and  to  declare  as  ijma'  what  a  short  time  before  had 
been  looked  upon  as  hid'  a, 

III.  It  may  be  maintained  that,  on  the  whole,  the 
leaders  of  Mohammedanism,  despite  the  pious  adherence 
to  the  Sunna-concept,  did  not  maintain  stubborn  opposi- 
tion toward  the  changing  demands  of  time  and  conditions. 
It  is  also  evident  that  from  this  point  of  view  it  would 


LATEE  DEVELOPMENTS.  299 

not  be  correct  to  regard  the  strict  unchangeableness  of 
Islamic  law  as  a  definite  characteristic. 

Even  in  the  early  days  of  Islam,  it  was  necessary  in 
civic  and  economic  matters  to  go  beyond  the  usages  which 
were  laid  down  for  them  in  primitive  Islam.  Considera- 
tion for  new  conditions  was  not  regarded  by  everyone 
as  incompatible  with  the  spirit  of  Sunna. 

In  one  of  the  four  orthodox  sects,  the  one  linlvcd  with 
the  name  of  Malik  ibn  Anas  (page  55),  the  maslaha, 
**Utilitas  publica,'^  or  the  common  interests,  was 
recognized  as  the  normal  point  of  view  in  the  applica- 
tion of  the  law.  It  was  permitted  to  deviate  from  the 
normal  law  if  it  could  be  shown  that  the  interest  of  the 
community  demanded  a  different  decision  from  that  given 
in  the  law,  corresponding  to  the  principle  of  ^'corrigere 
jus  propter  utilitatem  publicam''  in  Roman  law.  This 
liberty,  to  be  sure,  is  limited  to  each  case  as  it  arises,  and 
does  not  carry  with  it  a  definite  setting  aside  of  the  law. 
But  the  principle  involved  is  in  itself  an  indication  of 
the  willingness  to  make  concessions  within  the  law.  Sig- 
nificant is  an  important  utterance  of  the  highly  esteemed 
theologian  al  Zurkani  (d.  1122/1710  in  Cairo),  who,  in 
a  passage  in  his  commentary  to  the  Code  (Muwatta)  ol' 
Malik  distinctly  asserts  that  decisions  may  be  made  in 
the  measure  of  new  circumstances.  ^' There  is  nothing 
strange,''  he  concludes,  *4n  that  laws  must  accommodate 
themselves  to  circumstances.''^ 

It  follows  that  for  Islam,  therefore,  the  gates  of 
''innovations"  and  reforms  are  not  closed  from  the  point 
of  view  of  religious  law.  Under  the  protection  of  this  new 
freedom,  new  adaptations,  borrowed  from  Western  cul- 
ture, may  find  an  entrance  into  Moslem  life.  They  liave, 
to  be  sure,  called  forth  the  objections  of  the  obscurantists, 
but  have  been  finally  sanctioned  by  formal  fetwas  by 
recognized  authorities,  and  protected  against  hyperortlin- 


300  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

dox  attacks.  It  is,  to  be  sure,  a  somewhat  objectionable 
phenomenon  that  wholesome  innovations  of  an  entirely 
practical  and  worldly  significance  must  receive  their 
justification  through  a  fetwa,  after  they  had  previously 
formed  the  subject  of  discussion  from  the  point  of  view 
of  religious  permissibility. 

Under  the  protection  of  such  theological  dispensations, 
innovations  introduced  into  Islamic  society  since  the 
eighteenth  century  (of  which  the  first  was  perhaps  the 
establishment  of  a  printing-press  in  Constantinople  in 
1729),  encounter  no  opposition.  Similarly,  within  the 
field  of  economic  conditions  those  learned  in  canon  law 
were  obliged  to  exercise  their  ingenuity  to  find  means  of 
circumventing  obstacles  that  stand  in  the  way  of  adapting 
Islam  to  modern  needs.  For  example,  great  efforts  are 
being  made  at  present  to  find  subtle  distinctions  which 
would  permit  conscientious  Moslems  to  take  out  insur- 
ance policies,  which,  in  so  far  as  they  involve  chance, 
run  counter  to  the  spirit  of  Islam.  The  same  objections 
had  to  be  overcome  through  theological  subtlety  in  regard 
to  savings  banks.  Theoretically  this  institution  would  not 
be  permitted  in  a  society,  the  laws  of  which  forbid  every 
form  of  interest,  not  merely  usury.-  Nevertheless  the 
Egyptian  Mufti,  Sheikh  Muhammed  'Abduh  (d.  1905), 
found  the  means,  in  a  special  fetwa,  of  making  the  savings 
banks  and  the  division  of  di\T.dends  admissible  from  the 
point  of  view  of  religious  law  for  a  Moslem  community. 
In  the  same  way  his  colleagues  at  Constantinople  had 
previously  issued  fetwas  to  enable  the  Ottoman  govern- 
ment to  issue  interest-bearing  state  bonds.^ 

The  same  problem  arises  in  the  most  recent  times  in 
regard  to  matters  of  statecraft.  In  the  midst  of  the 
profound  changes  in  the  constitutional  governments  of 
Mohammedan  states,  in  orthodox  as  well  as  Shi4tic 
Islam,  we  have  witnessed  the  efforts  of  orthodox  scholars 
to  find  the  justification  for  the  legality  of  parliamentary 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  ;5()1 

government,  in  the  Koran.^  Similarly,  the  SliT'itu 
Mullahs,  in  association  with  the  jurists  attached  to 
the  sacred  cities  of  Nejef  and  Kerbela,  who  play  such 
an  important  part  in  the  religious  life  of  Persian  sii?  ism, 
base  the  claims  of  the  revolutionists  for  a  parliamentary 
form  of  government  on  the  doctrine  of  the  "hidden 
Imam''  (see  above  page  247).  In  numerous  theological 
treatises,  authoritative  teachers  of  Islam  make  the  otTort 
to  justify  demands  for  modern  forms  of  govei'imient 
through  the  Koran  and  Hadith  utterances,  just  as  they 
refer  to  the  religious  documents  of  Islam  for  the  fui-tlier- 
ance  of  cultural  progress  in  civic  life,  including  the 
woman  question  and  the  like.^ 

IV.  While  these  examples  are  taken  from  the  most 
recent  phases  of  Islamic  conditions,  the  manifestation 
itself  corresponds  to  a  tendency  to  be  noted  in  the 
preceding  centuries. 

There  was,  to  be  sure,  this  limitation,  in  that  in  the 
past  there  were  always  minorities  who  were  less  inclined 
to  make  concessions  on  the  basis  of  bid' a,  and  who 
endeavored  to  narrow  the  boundaries  of  the  good  bid' a 
as  much  as  possible,  often  with  fanatical  methods,  and 
also  to  draw  a  close  circle  around  orthodox  practice, 
so  as  to  keep  Islam  pure  of  any  compromise.  They  con- 
demned as  unorthodox  and  as  unwarranted  innovations, 
not  only  the  customs  arising  in  connection  with  the 
development  of  the  state,  customs  which  were  necessarily 
unknown  in  earlier  days,  but  even  dogmatic  speculations 
and  their  formulations,  which  were  equally  unknown  to 
former  ages.  They  went  so  far  as  to  include  in  this 
condemnation  the  'Asharitic  demands  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  claimed  to  be  Sunna. 

The  inner  history  of  Islamic  movements  thus  resolves 
itself  into  a  fight  between  Sunna  and  Bid' a,  of  the 
intransigent  principle  of  tradition  opposed  to  the  con- 
tinuous enlargement  of  its  boundaries,  and  the  enlarge- 


302  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ment  of  its  original  barriers.  This  opposition  runs 
through  the  whole  history  of  Islam,  through  its  dogmatic 
as  well  as  through  its  legalistic  development.  And  the 
necessity  for  this  conflict,  occasioned  by  the  constant 
change  of  circumstances,  demonstrates  the  error  involved 
in  the  widespread  opinion  that  Islam  after  a  short  period 
of  growth  became  stereotyped.^  The  fact  is  that  the 
attempt  to  stereotype  Islam  involved  bloody  conflicts  in 
order  to  be  carried  out;  and  after  it  had  partially  suc- 
ceeded, the  tendency  to  keep  Islam  free  from  innovations 
led  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  to  a 
strong  reactionary  movement.     (See  p.  307.) 

V.  Among  the  various  tendencies  within  Moslem  the- 
ology condemning  and  prosecuting  the  Bid' a,  there  is 
none  actuated  by  so  consistent  and  energetic  a  spirit  as 
the  one  which  reveres  the  celebrated  Imam  Ahmed  ibn 
Hanbal  (see  above  pages  56,  136),  as  its  patriarch  and 
founder  and  calls  itself  after  his  name.  From  this  circle 
proceed  the  most  fanatic  Sunna  zealots,  the  most  blatant 
opponents  of  aU  bid' a  in  dogma,  ritual,  and  in  private 
life.  Had  they  had  their  way,  the  whole  of  Islam  would 
have  been  pushed  back  to  the  original  content  as  fixed 
at  Medina,  and  to  the  form  dating  from  the  time  of  the 
Companions.  It  would  be  an  error  to  attribute  this  to 
a  possible  romantic  distinction  or  to  a  sentimental  long- 
ing for  a  naive  and  beautiful  past.  Such  feelings  played 
no  part  in  the  case  of  those  who  clung  to  the  letter.  It 
is  merely  the  formal  consequence  drawn  from  Sunna 
which  calls  forth  their  protest. 

There  are  plenty  of  occasions  for  such  protests  in  the 
course  of  the  centuries.  There  is  first  of  all,  the  spiri- 
tual dogmatism  with  its  peculiar  method  of  exegesis, 
which  called  forth  an  attack  from  the  followers  of  ibn 
Hanbal.  "We  have  already  seen  that  this  dogmatism,  even 
in  the  form  given  to  it  by  the  '  Asharites,  was  looked  upon 
as  heresy.    They  were  unwilling  to  move  a  hair'sbreadth 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  303 

from  the  literal  wording  of  the  texts.  Nothin.i,^  further 
was  to  be  read  into  or  out  of  it.  To  an  even  larger 
extent,  religious  life  furnished  occasion  for  their  pro- 
tests. Instead  of  going  into  details,  we  must  content 
ourselves  here  with  a  single  example,  which,  however, 
penetrates  to  the  very  heart  of  the  religious  lifo  of 
Islam. 

VI.  In  consequence  of  factors,  partly  psychological, 
partly  historical,  a  phase  of  religious  cult  developed  in 
Islam,  which,  however,  despite  its  inconsistency  with  tlie 
Islamic  conception  of  Allah  and  although  in  antipathy 
to  real  Sunna,  nevertheless  soon  spread  over  the  entire 
large  territory  of  Islam.  In  some  strata  of  Islamic 
practice,  it  assumed  an  importance  larger  than  the 
essence  of  the  religion  itself  and  constituted  the  real 
form  in  which  the  popular  religious  conscience  manifested 
itself.  Allah  stands  far  off  from  the  common  people; 
close  to  their  souls  are  the  local  saints  (weli),  who  form 
the  genuine  object  of  their  religious  cult,  to  whom  their 
fears  and  their  hopes,  their  respect  and  their  devotion 
are  linked.  Graves  of  saints  and  other  sacred  spots 
associated  with  such  a  cult,  form  their  places  of  wor- 
ship, in  connection  with  gross  fetishistical  worship  of 
relics  and  cult  objects.  This  worship  of  saints  assumes 
a  variety  of  forms  according  to  geographical  and  ethno- 
graphical conditions,  the  differentiations  being  due  to 
the  varying  antecedents  of  the  people  who  had  adopted 
Islam.  The  survival  of  the  older  cults,  pushed  to  the 
wall  by  Islam,  are  to  be  seen  to  a  larger  or  smaller  degree 
in  this  worship  of  saints.  By  virtue  of  provincial  peculi- 
arities it  gives  the  uniform  catholic  system  of  universal 
Islam,  a  local  coloring  due  to  its  popular  character.^ 

In  addition  to  ethnological  considerations,  the  psycho- 
logical needs  of  the  people  were  also  favorable  to  the 
worship  of  saints  in  Islam.  In  other  words,  bridging 
over  the  chasm,  separating  the  naive  believer  witli  his 


304  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

daily  needs,  from  the  unapproachable,  unattainable 
divinity,  favored  the  worship  of  saints  in  Islam;  for 
through  this  worship  the  believer  was  brought  into  con- 
tact with  mediators  to  whom  he  felt  close  and  who 
seemed  more  accessible  to  him  than  a  divinity  enthroned 
on  high,  far  above  everything  human  and  terrestrial. 
The  people  recognize  and  fear  the  supreme  Allah  as  the 
world  power  which  controls  the  great  phenomena  in  the 
cosmos,  but  do  not  attribute  to  him  any  interest  in 
the  petty  needs  of  a  small  circle,  or  still  less  of  the 
single  individual.  It  is  the  local  saint  who  is  interested 
in  the  crops  of  a  particular  locality,  in  the  flocks  of  a 
tribe,  in  the  recovery  of  the  individual  from  sickness, 
or  in  abundant  offspring.  To  him  are  brought  offerings, 
and  vows  are  made  in  his  favor  to  obtain  his  goodwill — 
or  to  use  the  Islamic  phrase — ''to  obtain  his  interces- 
sion with  Allah."  He  is  also  the  protector  and  guardian 
of  right  and  justice  among  his  followers.  A  false  oath 
in  his  name  or  at  the  place  sacred  to  him  is  more 
feared  than  such  an  oath  in  the  name  of  Allah.  The 
saint  lives  among  his  faithful  and  watches  over  their 
fortunes  and  misfortunes,  over  their  rights  and  their 
virtues.  In  many  parts  of  the  Moslem  world — among 
the  Bedouins  of  the  steppes  of  Arabia,  among  the 
Kabyles  of  North  Africa,  the  adhesion  of  the  populace 
to  Islam  is  reduced  chiefly  to  the  phases  of  the  local 
well  cult,  and  the  rites  and  customs  connected  therewith. 

This  need  was  also  favorable  to  the  unfolding  of  those 
ethnographical  aspects  which  led  to  the  preservation  in 
an  endless  variety  of  forms  of  saint  worship,  of  many 
elements  of  the  pre-Islamic  religion. 

One  of  the  most  important  chapters  in  the  religious 
history  of  Islam  is  the  systematic  study  of  the  phenomena 
connected  with  this  aspect  of  religious  history.  We  can 
only  touch  upon  the  subject  here,  in  order  to  emphasize 
that  the  forms  of  this  worship  of  saints  were  tolerated 


LATEE  DEVELOPMENTS.  305 

in  principle,  by  the  authorities  of  official  reliKion,  many 
centuries  back.  They  contented  themselves  with  remov- 
ing the  grossly  heathenish  elements— a  limitation  which 
in  practice  was  never  accurately  defined.  At  the  begin- 
ning, to  be  sure,  the  official  theology  was  not  so  tolerant 
towards  the  demands  of  the  popular  religious  spirit. 
For  there  is  no  sharper  break  with  the  old  Sunna  than 
the  spread  of  the  cult  of  saints,  so  contrary  to  the  kernel 
of  Islam,  and  which  the  genuine  adherent  of  Sunna  was 
obliged  to  relegate  to  the  province  of  shirk,  and  to 
condemn  as  the  association  of  divine  powers  with  the 
one  and  only  Allah.  The  conception  formed  of  the 
prophet,  who  was  brought  into  association  with  the  wor- 
ship of  saints,  was  also  changed  from  the  view  taken  of 
him  according  to  the  Sunna.  He  also  was  drawn  into  the 
sphere  of  hagiology  and  hagiolatry,  and  as  a  consequence, 
a  conception  arose  of  him  in  absolute  contradiction  to 
the  human  elements  given  to  the  founder  of  Islam  in 
the  Koran  and  Sunna.  The  spread  of  the  cult  of  prophet 
and  saints  furnished  the  best  possible  opportunity  to 
enforce  the  demand  for  the  abandonment  of  the  Bid' a 
principle,  so  entirely  contrary  to  Sunna.  But  after  some 
opposition  official  Islam  yielded  to  the  prevailing  reli- 
gious views  brought  about  by  the  force  of  popular  agree- 
ment (ijma').  With  certain  doctrinal  reservations  and 
some  theological  restraints,  the  result  of  this  historical 
development  was  embodied  as  part  of  the  orthodox 
system. 

VII.  The  zeal  of  the  Hanbalites  against  innovations, 
however,  admitted  of  no  concessions.  They  regarded  it 
as  their  mission  to  stand  up  as  heralds  of  the  Sunna 
against  all  dogmatic,  ritualistic  and  social  bid' a,  though 
the  little  group  felt  itself  to  be  powerless  against  the  rul- 
ing spirit.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
however,  there  rose  a  strong  defender  of  their  views— a 
courageous  theologian,  Taki  al-dm  ibn  Teimi^T^^.  ^^^^o  in 


306  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

his  sermons  and  writings  subjected  historic  Islam  to  a 
revision  from  the  point  of  view  of  Sunna  and  Bid' a  and 
opposed  all  innovations  which  changed  the  original 
dogma  and  practice.  He  showed  the  same  zeal  in  oppos- 
ing the  influences  of  philosophy  including  the  formulas 
of  the  'Asharite  Kalam,  long  since  recognized  by  ortho- 
doxy. As  he  opposed  Sufiism  with  its  pantheistic  doc- 
trines, as  well  as  the  cult  of  prophets  and  saints,  he 
also  condemned  as  irreligious  the  great  religious  esti- 
mate put  on  the  pilgrimage  to  the  grave  of  the  prophet, 
a  rite  which  had  long  counted  with  the  pious  as  the  com- 
pletion of  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  Ruthlessly  does  he 
turn  against  the  theological  authorities  who  recognized 
the  legitimate  Ijma'  to  justify  abuses  in  the  cult.  He 
goes  back  to  the  Sunna,  and  to  Sunna  alone. 

The  results  of  the  Mongol  invasion  under  which  the 
Moslem  kingdom  of  the  age  was  groaning,  was  a  wel- 
come opportunity  to  arouse  the  conscience  of  the  people 
to  a  regeneration  of  Islam  in  the  direction  of  Sunna, 
the  falsification  of  which  had  brought  on  the  wrath  of 
God.  The  worldly  rulers  as  well  as  the  influential 
theological  leaders  did  not  look  favorably  upon  this 
zealous  endeavor.  Quieta  non  movere — opposed  to  ibn 
Teimiyya's  demand  to  go  back  to  first  principles — ^were 
the  historical  results  within  the  domain  of  faith  and 
practice  which  were  now  recognized  as  Sunna.  The  final 
Church  authority  in  Islam  was  Ghazali  who  had  found 
the  formula  uniting  ritualism,  rationalism,  dogmatism 
and  mysticism,  and  whose  point  of  view  had  become  the 
criterion  of  orthodox  Sunni  Islam.  This  Ghazali  was, 
so  to  speak,  the  red  rag  for  the  new  Hanbalites  in  their 
determination  to  combat  all  historical  development. 

Ibn  Teimiyya  did  not  meet  with  much  success.  He 
was  dragged  from  one  religious  tribunal  to  another  and 
died  in  prison  (1328).  The  theological  literature  of  the 
succeeding  age  discussed  as  a  leading  thesis  the  question 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  307 

whether  he  was  a  heretic  or  a  pious  champion  of  the 
Sunna.  His  little  group  of  followers  has  crowned  his 
memory  with  the  halo  of  saintship,  and  even  his  oppo- 
nents became  reconciled  to  him  through  the  permanent 
impressions  of  religious  earnestness  stamped  upon  the 
writings  of  the  dead  zealot.  His  influence,  though  latent, 
was  felt  for  a  period  of  four  centuries.  His  works  were 
read  and  studied  and  in  many  circles  of  Islam  exercised 
a  quiet  power,  which  from  time  to  time  broke  into 
hostility  against  bid^a. 

It  was  the  influence  of  his  teachings,  which  towards 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  called  forth  one 
of  the  more  recent  religious  movements,  that  of  the 
Wahhabites. 

VIII.  The  history  of  Arab  Islam  is  rich  in  examples 
of  the  combinations  in  powerful,  authoritative  persoiiali- 
ties,  of  the  traits  of  the  learned  theologian  with  those  of 
the  brave  warrior.  As  in  heathendom  the  ''lyre  and  the 
sword"  are  united,  so  in  Islam  theology  and  warlike 
bravery  go  hand  in  hand  against  unbelief  and  heresy. 
The  ancient  history  of  Islam  furnishes  many  illustra- 
tions of  this.  At  all  events  religious  tradition — albeit 
unhistorical — has  been  eager  to  add  to  the  laurel  of  many 
a  warrior  the  distinction  of  possessing  divine  wisdom. 

The  oldest  type  appears  in  the  sword  of  'All,  borne 
by  a  man,  according  to  religious  legend,  who  at  the  same 
time  was  regarded  as  a  high  authority  in  all  religious 
questions,  the  decision  of  which  involved  theological 
learning.  But  even  when  we  stand  on  firm  historical 
soil,  we  often  see  this  combination  of  warlike  and  reli- 
gious virtue  in  the  one  standing  at  the  head  of  the  fight- 
ing masses.  As  illustrative  of  the  continuity  of  this 
phenomenon  down  to  the  latest  days,  we  may  take  ^\bd 
al  Mu'min  in  the  twelfth  century,  who  passed  from  the 
theological  halls  of  instruction  to  take  the  leadership  of 
the  Almohad  movement,  which  after  many  heroic  engage- 


308  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ments,  participated  in  by  large  masses  who  flocked  to 
his  standard,  culminated  in  the  foundation  of  a  large 
western  kingdom;  or  again,  the  latest  Moslem  hero, 
^Abdalkadir,  who  after  his  brave  military  opposition  to 
the  French  conquest  of  his  native  Algeria  gathered 
around  him  in  Damascus  pupils  eager  to  follow  his 
exposition  of  Malikite  law  and  other  branches  of  Islamic 
theology.  The  Caucasian  champion  of  freedom,  Shamil, 
and  the  warlike  Mahdis  of  whom  we  have  lately  heard 
so  much  in  the  Soudan  and  Somaliland,  are,  to  be  sure, 
less  worthy  representatives  of  the  same  occurrence  in 
the  history  of  Islam.  Nevertheless,  these  warriors  like- 
wise proceed  from  the  circles  formed  by  students  of 
Islamic  theology. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  theological-military  move- 
ments of  the  Arabs  was  inaugurated  in  modern  times 
in  central  Arabia  by  Mohammed  ibn  ^Abd  al  Wahhab 
(died  1787),  who,  on  the  basis  of  a  zealous  study  of  the 
writings  of  ibn  Teimiyya,  aroused  his  compatriots  to  a 
movement  of  a  theological  character,  which  soon  burst 
forth  into  flames.  It  carried  the  warlike  people  with  it, 
and  after  remarkable  successes  on  the  battlefield,  which 
stretched  beyond  the  peninsula  to  ^Irak,  finally  led  to 
the  foundation  of  a  state  community.  This  state  after 
many  vicissitudes,  and  though  weakened  by  many  rival- 
ries, still  exists  to-day  in  Central  Arabia,  and  forms  an 
influential  factor  in  the  politics  of  the  Arabian  peninsula. 
Wliile  ibn  ^  Abd  al  Wahhab  ditf ers  from  the  warlike  theo- 
logians above  referred  to,  for  he  himself  did  not  brandish 
the  sword  at  the  head  of  his  followers,  it  is  nevertheless 
his  theology  which  spurred  on  his  son-in-law,  Mohammed 
ibn  Sa^ud,  to  protect  him,  and  to  undertake  the  military 
campaigns  for  the  restoration  of  Sunna.  It  would 
appear,  indeed,  that  he  drew  his  sword  in  the  interests 
of  theological  doctrines  and  for  their  application  to 
private  life. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  :m 

Quite  recently,  Professor  Euting  has  furnished  us  with 
details  of  conditions  existing  in  the  religious  state 
founded  by  the  Wahhabites,  on  the  basis  of  liis  «.wii 
experiences  in  the  course  of  his  travels  in  Arabia.' 

The  Wahhabite  movement  gave  the  practical  sequence 
to  the  Hanbalitic  protests  of  ibn  Teimiyya  against  Hk' 
innovations  contrary  to  Sunna,  which  had  found  their 
way  into  Islam  through  general  consensus  (Ijnia'),  em- 
bracing dogmatical  formulations  which  had  arisen  in  the 
course  of  historical  development,  as  well  as  new  ])ractices 
in  every  day  life.  It  is  sufficient  to  emphasize  the  fact 
that  the  Wahhabite  doctrine  is  consistent  in  extending 
its  protests  to  every  kind  of  bid' a,  e.  g.,  against  the  use 
of  tobacco  and  coffee,  which,  since  they  cannot  be  proved 
to  have  formed  part  of  the  Sunna  of  the  companions,  are 
frowned  down  upon  in  Wahhabite  communities  as  a 
grievous  offense. 

And  with  the  sword,  the  Wahhabite  hordes  attacked 
the  most  sacred  sites  in  the  Sunnitic  and  Shritic  cult  of 
saints,  but  which  they  regard  as  the  centres  of  the  most 
reprehensible  shirk  cult,  which  together  with  the  cus- 
toms associated  with  it  was  placed  on  a  level  with 
idolatry.  It  was  only  with  the  help  of  the  troops  of 
the  Egyptian  vassal,  Muhammed  'All,  under  the  nominal 
authority  of  the  Turkish  government,  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  graves  of  saints  was  checked.  Those  who 
were  faithful  to  the  teachings  of  ibn  Teymiy^^a,  included 
in  their  opposition  even  the  grave  of  the  pro])liet  in 
Medina.  AH  this  in  the  Aame  of  Sunna,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  it.  In  these  battles  they  were 
inspired  by  the  examples  of  pious  predecessors.  The 
'Omayyad  ruler,  'Omar  II,  faithful  to  Sunna,  is  said  to 
have  purposely  not  directed  the  structure  at  the  prophet's 
grave  towards  Mecca,  ''for  fear  the  people  should  regard 
this  monument  as  a  place  of  prayer."  He  wanted 
to  prevent  this  by  not  orientating  the  structure  after  the 


310  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

fashion  of  a  mosque.-  Besides  opposing  the  worship  of 
graves  and  relics,  the  Wahhabites  fought  also  against 
other  innovations  in  the  ritual,  more  particularly  attach- 
ing minarets  to  mosques  and  the  use  of  the  rosary, 
unknown  to  early  Islam  (see  above  page  171).  Divine 
worship  should  be  an  exact  copy  from  conditions  pre- 
vailing at  the  time  of  the  Companions. 

Daily  life,  also,  was  forced  back  into  extreme  puritanical 
simplicity,  which  is  attested  by  the  practice  of  the  Com- 
panions and  caliphs  through  hundreds  of  Hadiths.  All 
luxury  was  frowned  upon,  and  the  conditions  prevailing 
in  Medina  in  the  seventh  century  were  to  be  regarded 
a  thousand  years  later  as  the  model  and  guide  for  the 
Sunna  state  organized  by  the  Wahhabites. 

The  attitude  of  the  Wahhabites  towards  the  cult  of 
saints,  as  the  chief  object  of  their  opposition,  freely 
justifies  the  designation  of  ^  ^  Tempelstiirmer  in  Hoch 
Arabien''  (destroyers  of  temples  in  Central  Arabia), 
which  is  given  to  them  by  Karl  von  Vincenti  in  his  novel 
depicting  their  social  life  and  customs.  For  this  work,  in 
agreement  with  other  accounts,  pictures  the  spirit  of 
hypocrisy  and  affectation  of  piety  involved  as  the  result 
of  extreme  puritanism. 

The  wide  influence  of  the  Wahhabitic  tendencies 
appears  also  in  various  affiliated  phenomena  in  remote 
corners  of  the  Islamic  world,  which  betray  the  unmis- 
takable influences  of  the  movement  in  Arabia. 

IX.  In  the  further  consideration  of  the  relationship 
of  Islam  in  general  to  this  movement,  special  attention 
should  be  called  to  a  phenomenon  significant  from  the 
religious  and  historical  point  of  view.  To  the  critical 
student  of  Islamic  conditions,  the  Wahhabites  appear  to 
be  combatants  for  the  form  of  religion  fixed  by  Moham- 
med and  his  Companions.  The  restoration  of  old  Islam 
is  their  goal  and  their  mission.    Theoretically  this  is  fre- 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  311 

quently  conceded  by  the  'Ulema.^  Nevertheless,  from 
the  practical  point  of  view,  the  Wahhribites  had  to  be 
rejected  as  sectarians  by  orthodox  Moslems,  accordhi<< 
to  whom  anyone  who  separates  himself  from  TjmaS 
rejects  what  the  general  consensus  of  the  Church  in  its 
historical  development  has  recognized  as  proper  and 
true.  Older  Sunna  regulations  are  of  no  consequence, 
for  what  is  recognized  by  Ijma'  becomes,  eo  ipso,  Suiina. 
That  alone  is  Sunnitic,  that  is  orthodox,  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  recognized  general  belief  and  general  prac- 
tice. That  which  is  contrary  to  this  Ijma*  is  heterodox. 
Starting  from  these  premises  the  orthodox  Moslem  must 
conclude  that  the  Wahhabites,  though  claiming  to  be 
faithful  to  Sunna,  through  their  opposition  and  rejection 
of  matters  which  are  recognized  in  the  four  orthodox 
sects,  in  part  even  demanded  by  them,  are  to  be  excluded 
from  orthodox  Islam,  precisely  as  the  old  Kharijites. 
Since  the  twelfth  century  Ghazali  has  been  the  final 
authority  for  orthodox  Islam.  Against  his  teachings, 
the  "Wahhabites  in  their  literary  opposition  against 
Meccan  orthodoxy  still  raging  to-day,  oppose  the  doc- 
trines of  ibn  Teimiyya  which  have  been  rejected  by  the 
prevailing  theology.  ''Hie  Ghazali,  Hie  ibn  Teimiyya,'' 
is  the  warcry  of  this  struggle.  Ijma'  has  accepted  Gha- 
zali and  canonized  him.  Those  who  differ  have  broken 
with  Ijma'  and  must  be  condemned  as  heterodox,  despite 
their  claim  of  being  faithful  and  consistent  followers  of 

Sunna. 

X.  The  movement  which  arose  in  the  Arabian  penin- 
sula and  whose  aims  and  effects  we  have  just  been  con- 
sidering, has  its  gaze  fixed  on  the  past,  denying  the 
justification  of  the  results  of  historical  development,  and 
recognizing  Islam  only  in  the  petrified  form  of  the 
seventh  century.  In  contrast  to  this  is  a  more  modern 
movement  within  Islam,  which  recognizes  the  religious 


312  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

evolution  of  mankind,  in  fact  has  this  belief  as  its  start- 
ing point  and  vital  idea.  This  is  the  Babi  movement 
which  had  its  rise  in  Persia. 

It  arose,  it  is  true,  from  a  form  of  Shi' ism  predomi- 
nating in  that  country.  In  its  historical  development, 
however,  its  fundamental  ideas  are  connected  with  a 
principle  which  we  have  come  to  recognize  as  the  guiding 
thought  of  the  Isma'ilian  sect,  namely  the  self-perfection 
of  the  divine  revelation  through  progressive  manifesta- 
tion of  the  great  world-intellect. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  new 
branch  was  grafted  on  to  the  Imam  doctrine  of  the  Shi'- 
itic  ''Twelvers,''  the  school  of  Sheikhites  whose  adher- 
ents cherished  a  zealous  worship  of  the  "hidden  Mahdi" 
and  of  the  Imams  preceding  him.  In  a  gnostic  manner, 
they  hold  these  persons  as  hypostases  of  divine  attri- 
butes, as  creative  potentialities.  They  thus  give  the 
Imam  mythology  of  the  ordinary  Imamiyya  a  greater 
area,  and  in  this  respect  are  in  line  with  the  extremists 
(ghulat,  see  above  page  233). 

In  this  group  grew  up  the  visionary  youth  Mirza 
Muhammed  'All  of  Shiraz  (born  1820).  On  account 
of  his  great  ability  and  enthusiasm,  he  was  recognized 
by  his  companions  as  chosen  for  the  highest  calling. 
This  recognition  of  his  fellow  visionaries  acted  as  a 
strong  suggestion  to  the  spirit  of  the  pensive  youth.  He 
finally  came  to  recognize  himself  as  the  embodiment 
and  manifestation  of  a  supreme  superhuman  mission 
within  the  development  of  Islam.  From  the  conscious- 
ness of  being  a  Bcib,  that  is  "a  door''  by  which  the 
infallible  will  of  the  hidden  Imam,  as  the  highest  source 
of  all  truth,  reveals  itself  to  the  world,  he  soon  came  to 
believe  that  in  the  economy  of  spiritual  development  he 
was  really  the  organ  of  the  hidden  instructor,  the  Imam 
of  the  age.  In  other  words,  he  himself  was  the  new 
Mahdi,  whose  coming  had  been  foretold  at   "the  end  of 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  313 

the  first  millennium,''  after  the  twelfth  Lnam  (2(;0-12r»())* 
after  Mohammed.  He  is  MahdT,  however,  no  Ioniser  as 
the  ordinary  Shi'ite  conceives  of  this  dii^nity,  hut^  (and 
here  he  touches  IsmiVilitic  doctrines)  as  a  inaiufVstation 
of  the  spirit  of  the  world,  as  ''the  point  of  nianilVsta- 
tion,"  the  highest  truth,  which,  having  taken  on  hmViW 
form  in  him,  differs  only  in  appearance,  but  is  identical  iii 
being  with  those  previous  manifestations  of  that  si)iritual 
substance  proceeding  from  God.  He  is  the  reai)]K'arance 
on  earth  of  Moses  and  Jesus,  as  well  as  the  embodiment 
of  all  other  prophets  through  whose  bodily  appearance 
in  former  aeons  the  divine  world-spirit  had  manifested 
itself.  He  preached  to  his  followers  opposition  to  the 
Mullahs — in  Persia  more  particularly,  the  Ulemas  are 
so-called — to  their  sanctimoniousness  and  hypocrisy,  and 
their  worldly  strivings.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to 
raise  the  revelation  of  Mohammed,  which  he  interpreted 
largely  in  an  allegorical  sense,  to  the  highest  level.  The 
practices  of  Islam,  the  minute  laws  on  ritualistic  purity, 
etc.,  were  little  considered  in  his  doctrine.  Sometimes 
others  were  substituted  for  them.  Divine  judgment, 
paradise,  hell  and  the  resurrection  had  other  meanings.^ 
In  this  he  had  predecessors  in  earlier  spiritualistic 
systems.  Resurrection  is  every  new  periodic  manifesta- 
tion of  the  divine  spirit  in  relation  to  a  preceding  one. 
The  latter  comes  to  new  life  through  its  successor.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  the  "meeting  with  God,"  as  tlie 
future  life  is  designated  in  the  Koran. 

It  is,  however,  not  only  in  dogmatic  and  h\ual  con- 
ceptions that  the  young  Persian  visionary  opposiul  the 
petrified  theology  of  the  Mullahs.  With  his  proclama- 
tion he  attacked  the  social  relationships  of  liis  fellow 
believers.  His  sympathetic  ethics,  the  brotherhood  of  all 
men,  were  oifered  in  place  of  the  wall  of  separation 
between  classes.  He  wished  to  raise  women  from  the 
low  position  in  which  actual  conditions  had  placed  her 

*  Of  the  Mohammedan  era. 


314  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

in  the  name  of  tradition,  to  one  of  equality  with  man.  He 
begins  this  task  by  doing  away  with  the  obligatory  veil, 
and  by  rejecting  the  coarse  conception  of  marriage  as 
it  had  developed  in  Moslem  communities,  as  this  develop- 
ment was  not  a  necessary  result  of  religious  principles. 
He  connected  the  nobler  conception  of  the  marriage 
relation  with  thoughts  on  the  function  of  the  family  and 
the  reform  of  education. 

The  religious  reforms  of  Bab,  therefore,  included  in 
their  aim  the  fundamentals  of  community  life.  He  is  a 
social  as  well  as  a  religious  reformer,  but  as  at  the 
beginning  he  started  with  gnostic  and  mystic  views,  the 
latter  element  permeates  his  entire  system  by  which  he 
builds  up  his  view  of  the  world.  He  combines  a  dis- 
tinctively modern  point  of  view  with  Pythagorian  sub- 
tleties; like  the  Hurufis  (page  268)  he  toys  with  com- 
binations of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  and  assigns  a 
numerical  value  to  them.  The  number  19  possesses  the 
greatest  importance  and  serves  him  as  the  point  of 
departure  for  ^'Gematria"  (i.  e.,  combinations  of  letters 
according  to  their  numerical  value),  which  play  a  great 
part  in  his  speculation. 

In  regard  to  his  own  person  he  teaches  his  identity 
with  the  prophets  which  preceded  him,  a  conception 
which  has  its  roots  in  gnosticism,  and  even  found  an 
expression  in  earlier  schismatic  movements  in  Islam. 
Similarly  he  announces  for  the  future  a  constantly 
renewing  manifestation  of  the  divine  spirit,  embodied 
for  his  days  in  his  own  person.^  Divine  revelation  is  not 
concluded  either  with  Mohammed  or  with  him.  The 
divine  spirit  reveals  itself  in  a  progressive  chain  of 
periodical  manifestations,  which  proclaim  the  divine 
will  in  a  steadily  increasing  maturity,  according  to  the 
progress  of  the  times.  Through  such  teachings  Mirza 
Muhammed  *Ali  paved  the  way  for  the  transformation 
which  took  place  in  his  community  soon  after  his  death. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  315 

He  has  embodied  tlie  substance  of  his  teachings  in  a 
religious  work  regarded  as  sacred,  and  known  as  Bay  an, 
i.  e.,  Interpretation.  His  doctrine,  naturally,  appeared 
exceedingly  dangerous  from  a  political  as  well  as  from 
a  religious  point  of  view.  The  founder  and  his  foUowers 
who  gathered  around  him,  among  whom  the  heroine 
Kurat  aPAin  (comfort  of  the  eye)  arouses  our  sym- 
pathy, were  unsparingly  persecuted  and  proscribed, 
pursued  and  turned  over  to  the  executioner.  Mohammed 
*Ali  himself  was  put  to  death  in  July,  1850.  Those  of 
his  followers  who  escaped  the  martyr's  death,  whose 
enthusiasm  was  increased  by  the  persecutions  which  they 
suffered,  found  an  asylum  on  Turkish  soil. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  the  founder  a  split  occurred 
within  the  community,  according  as  the  followers  recog- 
nized the  one  or  the  other  of  two  pupils  singled  out  b>' 
the  Bab,  as  the  authentic  interpreter  of  the  will  of  the 
late  leader.  The  minority  gathered  around  Subh-i-ezel 
(dawn  of  eternity)  with  headquarters  in  Famagusta 
(Cyprus),  who  proposed  to  sanction  the  work  of  the 
Bab  in  the  form  given  to  it  by  the  master.  They  are 
the  conservative  Babists.  The  others  supported  the 
contention  of  the  other  apostle,  Beha-Alhlh  (splendor  of 
God),  who  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixties,  during  the 
stay  of  the  Bab-exiles  in  Adrianople,  declared  himself 
on  the  basis  of  a  cyclic  system,  to  be  the  more  perfect 
manifestation  proclaimed  by  the  master,  through  which 
the  latter 's  own  work  would  be  raised  to  a  higher  level. 
Mohammed  ^Ali  was  his  precursor,  his  John,  as  it  were. 
The  divine  spirit  had  appeared  in  him  to  fuliill  the 
preparation  made  by  the  precursor.  Beha  is  greater 
than  Bab.  The  latter  was  the  Ka'im  (the  one  who  rises 
up),  Beha  is  Kayyum  (the  permanent  one);  ^^He  who 
will  appear,^'  the  expression  used  by  Bab  with  regard 
to  his  successor,  -is  greater  than  the  one  who  has 
already  appeared.-^     By  preference  he   calls  himselt 


316  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

mazhar  or  manzar,  the  revelation  of  God  in  which  the 
beauty  of  God  is  to  be  seen  as  in  a  mirror.  He  himself 
is  ''the  beauty  of  Allah,''  whose  face  shines  between 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  as  a  precious  polished  pearl.* 
Through  him  alone  the  being  of  God  can  be  known,  whose 
emanation  he  himself  is.^  His  followers  actually  invest 
him  with  divine  attributes,  as  illustrated  in  the  extrava- 
gant hymns  addressed  to  him  which  have  been  published 
by  E.  G.  Browne.^ 

On  account  of  the  quarrel  which  broke  out  between 
his  followers  and  the  conservative  Babists,  Beha  and 
his  community  were  transferred  to  Akka,  where  he  per- 
fected his  doctrine  into  a  complete  system  in  opposition 
not  only  to  the  milet  al  furkdn,  the  congregation  of  the 
Koran,  but  also  to  the  7nilet  al  haydn,  i.  e.,  the  old  Babists 
who  would  not  accept  his  reform,  who  declined  to  pass 
beyond  the  Baydn. 

His  teachings  have  been  embodied  in  a  number  of 
books  and  epistles  in  Arabic  and  Persian,  of  which  the 
Kitdh  akdas  (Sacred  Book)  is  the  most  important."^  For 
his  written  declarations  he  claims  divine  origin.  "Even 
this  tablet  (referred  to  in  one  of  his  epistles),  is  a  hid- 
den writing  which  has  been  guarded  from  eternity  among 
the  treasures  of  divine  exemption,  and  whose  characters 
are  written  with  the  fingers  of  divine  power,  if  you 
would  but  know  it."  Thus  he  conveys  the  impression 
as  though  he  did  not  reveal  the  whole  wealth  of  his  doc- 
trine of  salvation,  reserving  apparently  some  esoteric 
thoughts  for  the  innermost  circle.  He  maintains  also 
that  certain  teachings  ought  to  be  kept  secret  from 
opponents.  In  a  certain  passage  he  declares :  ''We  must 
not  discuss  this  stage  in  detail,  for  the  ears  of  our 
opponents  are  directed  toward  us  in  order  to  over-hear, 
while  offering  opposition  to  the  true  and  everlasting 
God.    For  they  do  not  attain  to  the  mystery  of  knowledge 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  Di; 

and  of  wisdom  of  the  one  who  arises  from  the  horizon 
of  the  splendor  of  divine  unity.'' 

This  manifestation  of  the  universal  spirit  in  Belia,  as 
the  fulfilment  of  the  announcement  of  the  oriirina] 
founder,  resulted  in  the  abrogation  of  the  revelation  to , 
the  Bab  in  some  essential  points.  While  the  latter  is  * 
at  bottom  only  a  reform  of  Islam,  Beha  advanced 
to  the  larger  conception  of  a  world  religion  which  was 
to  unite  mankind  in  a  religious  brotherhood.  As  in  his 
political  teachings  he  professes  cosmopolitanism— em- 
phasizing that  there  is  ''no  preference  to  be  given  to 
him  who  loves  his  country,  but  to  him  who  loves  the 
world,  "^  his  religion  in  this  matter  was  stripped  of  all 
narrow  sectarianism. 

He  regards  himself  as  the  manifestation  of  the  world 
spirit  to  ALL  mankind.  With  this  in  view  he  sends  his 
epistles,  which  form  a  portion  of  his  book  of  revelations, 
to  the  nations  and  rulers  of  Europe  and  Asia;  and  he 
extends  his  horizon  even  to  ''the  kings  of  America,  and 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  republic";  he  proclaims  "what  the 
dove  coos  on  the  branches  of  constancy."  In  the  eyes 
of  his  followers  he  becomes  a  divine  man  filled  with  the 
prophetic  spirit,  when  in  his  epistle  to  Napoleon  III 
he  announced,  four  years  before  Sedan,  the  Empire's 
approaching  downfall. 

With  his  cosmopolitan  aims  in  view,  he  connnanded 
his  followers  to  prepare  themselves,  by  the  study  of 
foreign  languages,  for  the  mission  of  apostles  of  the 
world  religion  which  was  to  unite  all  mankind  and  all 
nations  "in  order  that  the  interpreter  of  God's  cause 
reaching  the  east  and  the  west  should  announce  it  to  the 
states  and  nations  of  the  world  in  such  a  way,  that  the 
minds  of  men  should  be  drawn  to  it,  and  mouldering 
bones  should  be  brought  to  life."  "By  this  means,  unity 
is  to  be  brought  about  and  the  highest  task  of  civiliza- 


318  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

tion  accomplished.''^  The  ideal  means  by  which  the 
understanding  of  the  world  is  to  be  won  is  a  common 
world  language.  He  wishes  that  kings  and  ministers 
might  unite  in  recognizing  one  of  the  existing  languages, 
or  else  create  a  new  one  as  the  universal  language  which 
should  be  taught  in  all  the  schools  of  the  world.^^ 

He  threw  aside  all  limitations  both  of  Islam  and  of 
Babism.  With  regard  to  the  latter,  it  is  true,  he  did 
not  free  his  proclamation  from  all  mystical  speculations, 
tricks  of  letters  and  numbers,  which  had  gathered  around 
early  Babism.  His  main  interest,  nevertheless,  is 
directed  toward  the  building  up  of  the  ethical  and  social 
factors.  "War  is  strictly  forbidden,  only  ^4n  case  of 
need"  is  the  use  of  weapons  allowed;  slavery  also  is  for- 
bidden, and  equality  of  all  men  is  taught  as  the  nucleus 
of  the  new  gospel.^ ^  In  a  revelation  entitled  Surat  al- 
Muluk  (Sura  of  the  Kings)  he  severely  reproached  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  for  allowing  such  great  differences  in 
power  to  exist  among  his  people.^-  In  a  reforming 
spirit,  he  takes  up  the  question  of  marriage  relations 
already  considered  by  Bab.  His  ideal  is  monogamy,  but 
he  makes  concessions  to  bigamy,  which,  however,  is  to 
be  regarded  as  the  limit  of  polygamy.  Divorce  is 
recognized,  but  modified  in  a  humane  spirit.  The  reunit- 
ing of  those  who  have  separated  is  allowed,  provided 
they  have  not  married  again;  in  direct  contrast  there- 
fore to  the  custom  of  Islam.  The  law  of  Islam  is 
regarded  as  completely  superseded;  new  forms  for 
prayer  and  ritual  are  introduced,  public  prayer  with  its 
liturgical  forms  (salat  al-jama*)  is  done  away  with. 
Each  individual  prays  alone  (furada).  Common  prayer 
is  retained  only  for  prayers  over  the  dead.  The  kibla 
(the  direction  of  prayer)  is  not  toward  Mecca  but  toward 
the  place  where  the  one  is  whom  God  has  sent  down 
^*as  his  manifestation."  When  he  wanders  the  kibla 
wanders,  until  he  takes  up  an  abode  somewhere.    Bodily 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  319 

cleanliness,  washing  and  bathing,  are  most  emphatically 
ordained,  as  religious  duties,  together  with  a  warning 
against  bathing  establishments  such  as  those  of  the 
Persians  which  are  represented  as  very  unclean. 

"With  a  stroke  of  the  pen  he  strikes  out  the  limitations 
which  Islam  had  laid  upon  the  believers,  without  going 
into  any  detail  except  in  the  case  of  certain  laws  of  dress. 
You  may  do  anything  which  is  not  opposed  to  common 
sense.^^  Like  his  predecessor  he  is  tireless  in  his  war 
against  the  ^Ulema  who  twist  and  check  the  will  of  God. 
One  is,  however,  to  keep  clear  of  disputes  with  religious 
opponents.  The  Beha  religion  recognizes  no  profes- 
sional spiritual  position.  Every  member  of  this  uni- 
versal church  should  work  toward  a  productive  aim, 
useful  to  the  community.  Those  who  have  the  ability 
should  be  the  spiritual  teachers  of  the  community  with- 
out compensation.^*  The  suppression  of  the  corporate 
business  of  teaching  was  demonstrated  by  the  abolish- 
ment of  the  pulpit  (minbar)  in  public  gathering  places.^ ^ 

"We  will  be  disappointed  if  we  expect  to  find  Beha  in 
the  camp  of  the  liberals  in  political  matters.  He  surprises 
us  by  fighting  political  freedom — **We  see  that  many 
men  desire  freedom  and  boast  of  it :  they  are  obviously 
in  error.  .  .  .  Freedom  brings  about  confusion  whose 
fire  is  not  extinguished.  Know  that  the  origin  and 
appearance  of  freedom  is  animalic ;  man  must  be  under 
laws  which  guard  him  from  his  own  barbarity,  and  the 
harms  which  may  be  done  by  those  who  are  false.  Indeed 
freedom  removes  man  from  the  demands  of  culture  and 
propriety.'' — and  so  on,  in  undisguised  reactionary  lan- 
guages^ The  adherents  of  the  Beha  do  not  even  favor 
the  liberal  political  developments  in  Turkey  and  Persia, 
but  look  with  disfavor  on  the  dethronement  of  the  sultan 
and  the  shah.^"^ 

The  mission  of  the  Beha  Allah  passed  after  his  death 
(May   16,   1892),   with   only   a  few   objections   by   the 


320  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

^'friends''  (ahbab),  to  his  son  and  successor  ^ Abbas 
Effendi,  called  ^Abd-al  Baha,  or  Ghusn  Azam  (the  Great 
Branch).^*  He  carried  the  views  of  his  father  to  a 
comprehensive  development.  They  are  made  to  conform 
more  and  more  to  the  forms  and  aims  of  the  intellectual 
thought  of  the  Occident.  The  fantastic  elements  which 
had  still  clung  to  the  previous  stage  are  made  as  mild  as 
possible,  although  not  yet  completely  thrown  off.  ^  Abbas 
makes  a  wide  use  of  the  writings  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  which  he  quotes  for  his  purposes.  In  this 
way  he  strives  to  extend  the  influence  to  still  wider  circles 
than  those  to  w^hicli  the  followers  of  his  father  had 
appealed. 

Since  the  appearance  of  ^Abd-al  Baha  the  propaganda 
has  attained  very  remarkable  results.  A  great  number 
of  American  ladies  (the  names  of  a  few  can  be  found 
in  the  notes)  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Persian  prophet 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Carmel  in  order  to  bring  to  their 
western  homes  words  of  healing  from  his  own  lips,  words 
which  they  had  heard  directly  from  the  holy  man.  The 
best  presentation  of  the  teaching  of  *  Abbas  we  owe  to 
Miss  Laura  Cliford  Barney,  who,  living  a  long  time  in 
the  vicinity  of  'Abbas,  took  down  his  teachings  in  short- 
hand in  order  to  bring  them  to  the  western  world  as 
representing  an  authentic  conception  of  the  new  Baha 
doctrine.^^ 

The  movement  started  by  the  Bab  is  no  longer  to  bear 
the  name  of  its  founder.  There  has  developed  lately  a 
preference  to  call  this  offspring  of  the  doctrine  of  Mirza 
Mohammed  'All  which  is  constantly  spreading  and  leav- 
ing its  rivals  behind,  Behd'iyya,  a  name  which  the  faith- 
ful give  themselves  in  opposition  to  the  unimportant 
remnants  of  the  conservative  Bayan-adherents  who  are 
gathered  under  other  leaders. 

The  wide  universalistic  aim  which  characterizes  it  has 
drawn  its  adherents  not  only  from  mosques,  but  from 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  321 

churches,  synagogues,  and  fire  temples.  A  building  for 
public  worship  has  lately  been  erected  in  Ashkabad  near 
the  Persian  boundary  in  Russian  Turkestan.  A  descrip- 
tion of  it  has  been  given  by  an  enthusiastic  European 
interpreter  of  Beha4sm,  Hippolyte  Dreyfus.^^  On  the 
other  hand,  the  designation  BeJid'ism  embodies  the  idea 
of  religious  free-thought,  of  the  laying  aside  of  the  posi- 
tive doctrine  of  Islam.  As  formerly  the  term  Zindik 
meant  an  early  Moslem  whose  religious  views  were  influ- 
enced by  Parseeism  and  Manichaeism,  and  as  later  the 
name  Failasuf  (Philosopher),  lately  also  Farmasun 
(franc-macon)  without  regard  to  a  definite  kind  of  back- 
sliding from  true  Islam  generally  refers  to  a  free-thinker, 
so  to-day  in  Persia,  Beha^i  is  applied  not  only  to  this 
latest  development  of  the  Babi  faith,  but  as  Rev.  F.  M. 
Jordan  has  remarked,  ^'many  of  those  who  are  given 
this  name  are  really  nothing  but  irreligious  rational- 
ists.' ^'-^  Since  the  adherents  of  this  form  of  belief  in 
Persia  and  also  in  other  Moslem  lands  still  have  every 
reason  to  hide  their  completely  anti-Mohammedan  con- 
victions from  publicity  and  to  claim  the  practice  of 
takiyya  (above  page  228),  it  would  be  difficult  to  offer 
even  approximately  correct  statistics  as  to  the  followers 
of  Babiism  in  both  its  forms.  The  statement  of  Rev. 
Isaac  Adams,  one  of  the  latest  to  picture  Babi  condi- 
tions, that  their  number  in  Persia  reaches  three  millions, 
would  seem  to  be  exaggerated.  This  would  mean  almost 
a  third  of  the  whole  population  of  the  country.  *  Abbas 
Eifendi  himself  in  an  interview  in  New  York  in  July, 
1912,  said  he  could  not  give  the  number  of  the  followers 
of  Beha^sm. 

Babism,  passing  over  into  Beha^sm,  has  undertaken 
a  serious  propaganda.  Its  teachers  and  followers  have 
not  hesitated  to  draw  the  consequences  of  their  con- 
viction that  they  are  not  a  sect  of  Islam  but  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  world-wide  doctrine.    Its  propaganda  has 


322  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

not  only  spread  far  among  those  of  Moslem  faith  (as  far 
as  Indo-China)  but  with  remarkable  success  is  going 
farther  and  farther  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Islam.  The 
prophet  of  'Akka  has  found  in  America  and  in  Europe 
also,  it  is  claimed,  zealous  adherents  even  among  Chris- 
tians.2^  Through  the  spread  of  literature  the  attempt 
is  made  to  crystallize  American  Beha'ism.  Its  journal- 
istic interpreter  is  a  magazine  known  as  the  Star  of  the 
West,  which  has  appeared  nineteen  times  every  year 
since  1910  (19  being  the  sacred  number  of  the  Bab). 
With  Chicago  as  its  center,  it  covers  a  wide  area  in  the 
United  States,  and  it  is  in  this  very  city  that  plans  are 
being  formed  for  the  erection  of  a  religious  gathering 
place,  mashrak  al-Adhat,  for  the  American  Behas.  A 
considerable  sum  raised  by  the  '^ Friends''  has  assured 
the  acquisition  of  a  large  piece  of  land  on  the  banks  of 
Lake  Michigan  which  was  dedicated  on  the  first  of  May, 
1912,  by  'Abbas  Effendi  during  his  tour  in  the  United 
States.-^  Jewish  visionaries  also  have  picked  out  from 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets  the  foretelling 
of  the  Beha  and  'Abbas.  According  to  them,  where- 
ever  the  ''glory  of  Jahweh"  is  spoken  of,  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  Beha  Allah  is  meant. 
They  find  support  in  all  the  references  to  Mount  Carmel, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  which  the  Light  of  God  shone  for 
all  men  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Nor  have 
they  neglected  to  ferret  out  from  the  visions  of  the  Book 
of  DanieP^  the  foretelling  and  even  the  chronology  of  the 
movement  beginning  with  the  Bab.  The  2300  year-days 
(Dan.  viii:14)  at  the  end  of  which  "the  sanctuary  shall 
be  cleansed"  corresponds,  according  to  their  reckoning, 
with  the  year  1844,  of  our  era,  the  year  in  which  Mirza 
Mohammed  'All  proclaimed  himself  as  Bab,  and  at  which 
time  the  universal  spirit  (Welt-geist)  entered  into  a  new 
phase  of  its  manifestation. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  323 

With  the  appearance  of  'Abbas  Effendi,  the  application 
of  Biblical  interpretations  went  one  step  farther.  Ac- 
cording to  these  he  was  foretold  as  *'the  child  who  will 
be  born  to  us,  the  son  who  will  be  given  to  us,''  on  whose 
shoulders  lie  the  responsibilities  of  a  prince,  and  who  is 
the  bearer  of  the  wonder  epithets  in  Isaiah  9:5.  As  I 
write  these  pages  I  listen  to  these  Biblical  proofs  from 
the  lips  of  a  Beha  visionary  who  for  two  years  has  been 
staying  in  my  town.  He  was  formerly  a  physician  in 
Teheran,  and  is  endeavoring  to  find  followers  for  his 
faith  here.  He  feels  in  himself  a  special  mission  to  my 
country.  This  fact  is  one  more  proof  that  it  is  not  on 
American  soil  alone  that  the  extra-Mohammedan  prop- 
aganda of  the  new  Beha  is  directed. 

XL  India  offers  a  very  special  field  for  the  considera- 
tion of  a  historical  development  of  movements  in  Islam. 
In  this  soil  they  are  products  of  the  peculiar  ethnographic 
conditions  of  this  province  of  Islam,  and  offer  many  a 
fruitful  consideration  for  the  historian  of  religion.  We 
can  merely  touch  upon  them  here,  however. 

Although  the  Ghassanide  conquest  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury seriously  maimed  ancient  Indian  culture,  the  old 
forms  of  religion  maintain  themselves  in  their  primitive 
form  up  to  the  present  day  in  the  very  midst  of  ruling 
Islam.  In  spite  of  the  great  numbers  which  Islam  owed 
to  the  numerous  converts  from  the  circles  of  the  Brahma 
community,  the  Koran  was  not  able  actually  to  supplant 
the  Vedas.  Nowhere  was  Islam  forced  to  show  its  toler- 
ance to  such  a  degree  as  in  India.  The  condition  of  the 
population  forced  Islam  to  go  beyond  its  fundamental 
law,  the  law  which  permits  far-reaching  tolerance  toward 
monotheistic  religions,  but  on  the  other  hand  commands 
the  unsparing  destruction  of  idolaters  in  conquered  lands. 
In  India,  in  spite  of  the  war  and  destruction  carried  on 
by  the  energetic  and  zealous  Ghassanide  Mahmud  against 


324  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

the  idolatrous  temples,  they  remain  standing  under  Mos- 
lem rule.  The  Hindu  religions  had  to  be  passively  recog- 
nized as  under  the  protection  of  the  law  (Ahl-al-dimma^. 

The  kaleidoscopic  variety  of  the  religious  world  of 
India  was  bound  on  the  other  hand  to  bring  about  many 
reciprocal  relations  between  itself  and  Islam.-  In  the 
mass  conversions  of  the  Hindus,  many  of  their  social 
customs  were  here  and  there  carried  over  with  them  into 
their  Moslem  life.  We  find  very  peculiar  cases  of  this 
in  connection  with  the  religious  life.  Moslem  concep- 
tions are  expressed  in  the  manner  of  Indian  thought.  An 
example,  surprising  and  to  be  sure  not  conclusive  to  the 
ordinary  mind,  is  the  form  in  which  the  Moslem  double 
credo  sometimes  appears  on  the  coins  of  Mohammedan 
princes  of  India.  ^'The  indefinable  is  a  single  one; 
Mohammed  is  his  avatar. '  '^  A  wide  field  for  the  popular 
practical  proof  of  Hindu  influence  on  the  sacra  of  Islam 
is  to  be  found  in  Moslem  saint  worship,  in  which  the 
Indian  element  has  reached  a  more  than  ordinarily  mani- 
fest importance,  and  in  Indian  Shi^sm  especially  shows 
very  remarkable  instances.  Indian  gods  become  Moham- 
medan saints,  and  Indian  shrines  are  arbitrarily  clothed i 
in  Moslem  garb. 

In  none  of  its  conquered  lands  does  Islam  offer  such 
a  prominent  example  of  the  conservation  of  heathen  ele- 
ments as  in  India  and  the  island  world  attached  to  it. 
Here  we  find  examples  of  a  true  admixture  of  heathenism 
and  of  Islam.  Beside  an  entirely  external  worship  of 
Allah  and  an  entirely  superficial  use  of  the  Koran  as  well 
as  ignorant  practice  of  Moslem  customs  there  flourishes 
the  continuance  of  the  worship  of  the  dead  and  of  demons 
as  well  as  other  animistic  customs.  A  fruitful  field  for 
these  syncretisms  is  to  be  found  in  the  Moslem  forms 
among  the  people  of  the  East  Indian  archipelago.  The 
information  about  this  has  come  to  us  in  important 
books  by  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  and  R.  J.  Wilkinson.^    On 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  325 

the  Indian  continent,  T.  W.  Arnold  has  given  a  great 
deal  of  information  about  the  continuance  of  the  worship 
of  Hindu  gods  and  the  practice  of  Hindu  rites  among 
the  lower  classes  of  the  Moslem  population  in  the  various 
parts  of  India.*^  Islam  in  India  is  a  fruitful  field  of 
work  for  Sunna  zealots  who,  moved  by  Wahhabite  ideas, 
are  eager  for  the  purification  of  Islam.  There  is  oppor- 
tunity for  widespread  work  in  two  directions;  that  of 
purifying  Islam  from  the  saints,  re-interpreted  from 
ancient  forms  of  religions,  and  the  religious  customs  con- 
nected with  these  cults,  and  also  in  missionary  activity 
among  the  groups  of  the  Indian  population,  only  super- 
ficially touched  by  Islam. 

In  the  last  century,  Islam  in  India  has  experienced 
movements  relating  to  this.  From  Arabia,  the  thoughts 
of  the  Wahhabite  movement  streamed  into  this  Moslem 
territory  also.  The  emotions  and  experiences  of  the 
Mecca  pilgrimage  have  always  proved  a  powerful  means 
of  arousing  religious  zeal  for  the  adoption  of  new  efforts 
and  their  planting  in  distant  lands.  After  quiet  theo- 
retical preparation  such  uprisings  in  India  found  power- 
ful expression  through  Sayyid  Ahmed  from  Bareli, 
who  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century 
spread  the  Wahliabite  views  to  the  various  parts  of 
Moslem  India  and  joined  (with  the  mission  work  prac- 
ticed on  the  Hindus),  the  attempt  to  purify  Islam  from 
the  shirk,  arising  so  crudely  in  saint  worship  and  idola- 
trous customs.  His  work  is  represented  by  his  followers 
as  entirely  successful. 

In  his  zeal  for  the  reestablishment  of  the  primitive 
modes  of  Moslem  life,  he  dragged  his  numerous  follow- 
ers into  a  religious  war  (Jihad),  which  had  as  its  next 
goal  the  fight  with  the  Sikh  sect,  scattered  throughout 
North  India,  about  which  we  will  have  a  little  to  say 
later.  During  this  unsuccessful  war  he  died  in  1831. 
Although  this  fantastic  Jihad  undertaking  and  the  polit- 


326  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ical  attempts  connected  with  it  came  to  an  end  through 
Ahmed's  death,  the  religious  movement  within  Islam 
continued  in  Indian  Islam  after  this. 

Although  no  longer  under  the  Wahhabite  flag,  the 
apostles  of  Ahmed's  doctrine  have  worked  under  various 
names  for  the  complete  Islamization  of  the  modern 
Mohammedans  given  to  Indian  customs.  They  have  also 
won  them  over  to  follow  Moslem  law,  gathering  together 
groups  of  those  faithful  to  Sunna  whose  branches  are 
increasing  the  number  of  Moslem  sects  in  India.  A 
leading  circle  of  this  group  bears  the  name  characteristic 
of  its  efforts — 'Idiyya,  that  is,  ^^followers  of  (Mos- 
lem) religious  duties.''"  This  reform  movement  which 
arose  from  the  Sunna  views  of  the  Wahhabite s  has  its 
literary  concentration  in  the  book,  still  read  to-day,  of 
the  faithful  companion  of  Ahmed  Bareli,  Maulawi  Isma'il 
of  Delhi.  Under  the  title  of  Takwiyat  al-imdn  (strength- 
ening of  belief)  it  maintains  an  energetic  attack  against 
all  shirk  and  the  return  of  the  Moslem  believer  to  the 
tauh'id  (confession  of  unity ).^ 

XII.  Just  as  Indian  Islam  was  unable  to  escape  the 
Indian  influence  of  the  native  religions,  so  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Moslem  conception  of  God  did  not  remain 
without  some  influence  on  the  followers  of  the  Indian 
caste.  In  this  direction  there  are  everywhere  consider- 
able signs  of  a  syncretism,  which  although  of  greater 
importance  to  the  development  of  Hinduism,  cannot  be 
entirely  overlooked  by  the  historian  of  Islam. 

It  has  been  noted,  that  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  and 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  Moslem  elements 
entered  the  religious  world  of  the  Hindu.  It  is  especially 
through  the  teachings  of  a  weaver  of  the  name  of  Kabir, 
one  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Ramanda  school,  whom 
Moslems  in  India  as  well  as  his  Hindu  followers  honored 
as  a  saint,^  that  such  influences  have  come  about.     In 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  327 

connection  with  this,  Moslem  Sufi  views  also  go  back  to 
the  circle  which  represents  one  of  their  original  sources. 

It  should,  however,  be  stated  that  the  closer  char- 
acterization of  these  influences  is  for  the  present  still  in 
dispute.  Professor  Grierson,  one  of  the  most  competent 
connoisseurs  of  India,  explained  these  events  as  the 
influence  of  Christian  views,  and  rejects  the  suggestion 
of  Moslem  influence  as  the  explanation.  We  can  natu- 
rally not  take  sides  in  this  dispute,  which  formed  the 
most  interesting  subject  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
English  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1907.^  In  connection 
with  our  subject,  it  is  necessary,  however,  to  at  least 
indicate  the  possibility  of  an  influence  of  Islam.^ 

Furthermore,  the  religion  of  the  Sikhs  in  North  India, 
founded  by  Nanak,  a  pupil  of  Kabir  (died  1538),  is  to  be 
regarded  as  a  Hindu-Moslem  synchretism.  The  litera- 
ture on  it  has  lately  been  enlarged  by  M.  A.  Macauliif  e  's 
great  work  (in  six  volumes.  Clarendon  Press  Oxford, 
1909).  Under  the  influence  of  Moslem  Sufiism  which  was 
also  combined  with  Buddhistic  elements,  the  author  of 
the  Adi  Granth  conceived  a  religious  view  of  the  world 
in  which  Hinduism  and  Islam  were  to  be  united, 
whereby — as  Frederick  Pincott  represents  it — ^^a  means 
was  suggested  to  span  the  breach  which  separates  the 
Hindus  from  the  believers.''^  The  most  important  ele- 
ment in  it  is  the  replacing  of  polytheism  by  the  Sufic 
monotheistic  conception  of  the  world.  To  be  sure,  the 
work  of  Nanak  in  its  social  aspects  has  been  obscured 
by  his  followers,  and  in  consequence  of  the  bitter  strug- 
gles^ resulting  from  the  mutual  relations  between  the 
adherents  of  his  system  and  the  followers  of  Islam,  the 
original  purpose  of  the  founder  of  the  Sikh  religion,  to 
reconcile  contradictory  points  of  view,  is  no  longer 
discernible. 

Even  up  to  a  late  period,  the  influence  of  Islam  on 


328  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Indian  sects  is  to  be  noted.  In  the  first  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  a  Hindu  sect  (Ram  Sanaki)  arose, 
opposed  to  the  worship  of  images,  and  resembling  in 
many  respects  the  cult  of  Islam.^ 

XIII.  All  this  emphasizes  the  peculiar  position  of 
India  which,  as  a  consequence  of  the  multitudinous 
aspects  of  religious  phenomena  in  that  country,  affords 
an  especially  fertile  field  for  the  student  of  the  compara- 
tive history  of  religions. 

These  conditions,  so  favorable  for  the  comparative 
study  of  religions,  naturally  furnish  the  incentive  for 
producing  a  constant  succession  of  new  religious  aspects. 
From  the  standpoint  of  Moslem  history  there  is  one  more, 
particularly  to  be  mentioned,  which  arises  directly  from 
the  peculiar  mental  attitude  in  India,  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  religious  problems. 

Its  founder  is  the  Indian  monarch  Abu'l  Fath  Jelaled- 
din  Mohammed,  who  is  kno\vn  in  history  by  his  epithet 
Akhar  (the  Great).  The  history  of  his  reign  has  been 
set  forth  by  Friedrich  August  von  Schleswig  Holstein, 
Count  of  Noer  (1881),  and  more  recently  (1908)  in  an 
address  at  the  University  of  Tiibingen  by  Prof.  R. 
Garbe.  Max  Mtiller  on  one  occasion  designated  the 
Emperor  Akbar  as  the  first  representative  of  the  com- 
parative study  of  religions.  The  way  was  paved  for 
Akbar,  however,  by  Abulfadl  al-^AUami,  who  later 
became  his  minister,  and  who  set  up  a  monument  to  his 
prince,  in  a  work  known  as  Akbar-nameh.  Prior  to 
Akbar,  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  various 
religious  forms,  and  had  meditated  on  the  formation  of 
a  religion  which  would  go  beyond  positive  Islam.^  It 
remained  for  Akbar,  however,  by  virtue  of  his  authority 
to  embody  the  results  of  his  minister's  investigations  in 
a  state  institution.  Despite  his  defective  education  which 
was  not  favorable  toward  displaying  an  interest  in  higher 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  329 

culture,^  the  reign  of  this  prince  of  the  family  of  Tamer- 
lane (Great  Moguls)  (1525-1707)  is  associated  with  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  episodes  in  the  history  of  Islam 
toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  extent 
to  which  the  religious  emotions  of  this  talented  prince 
were  stirred  up,  is  shown  by  his  undertaking  a  long 
journey  in  the  disguise  of  an  humble  servant  to  listen  to 
the  religious  poems  of  the  sweet  Hindu  singer  Haridasa. 
As  a  result  of  this  disguise  Akbar  was  deeply  impressed 
by  the  rich  opportunity  afforded  him  through  the  mani- 
fold religious  conditions  prevailing  in  his  kingdom. 
Through  the  disputations  which  he  organized  among 
theologians  of  the  most  varied  hues,  he  acquired  the  con- 
viction of  the  relative  value  of  the  various  views  set 
forth.  As  a  result,  his  belief  in  the  saving  grace  of  his 
own  religion,  Islam,  in  its  Sufi  form,  began  to  waver. 

While  he  accorded  the  followers  of  the  various  reli- 
gions of  his  extended  empire  an  unchecked  freedom  of 
cult  (about  1578)  he  thought  out  for  himself  a  new  form 
of  religion  which  externally  remained  attached  to  Islam, 
but  which  in  its  essence  represents  the  total  overthrow 
of  that  religion.  The  servile  scholars  of  his  court 
declared  the  prince  to  be  a  Mujtahid,  that  is  to  say  a 
theologian  who  had  the  authority,  in  the  Islamic  sense,  of 
setting  up  new  doctrines.  Armed  with  this  privilege  he 
formulated  a  religious  system  in  which  the  dogmatic 
forms  of  Islam  appear  to  be  set  aside  as  entirely  worth- 
less. In  its  place  there  appears  as  the  central  doctrine 
of  ^* monotheism''  {tauhld  ilahl)  as  it  was  designated, 
an  ethical  rationalism,  leading  to  the  ideal  of  a  mystic 
union  of  the  soul  with  the  divine.  In  its  ritual  this  new 
religion  betrays  the  strong  influence  of  the  Zarathustrian 
counselors  of  the  king  who  had  found  a  refuge  for  their 
religion  on  Indian  soil,  from  the  persecutions  it  had 
encountered  in  its  Persian  home.    The  worship  of  light, 


330  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

of  the  sun  and  of  fire,  evidently  taken  over  from  Zara- 
thustrianism,  forms  one  of  the  prominent  traits  of  the 
new  religion,  whose  high  priest  was  the  Emperor  himself. 

The  religion  of  Akbar  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
reform,  but  as  a  denial  of  Islam.  A  break  with  its  tradi- 
tions more  decided  even  than  that  which  manifests  itself 
in  the  doctrine  of  Isma'  il.  It  remained,  hoAvever,  without 
any  decided  influence  on  the  development  of  Islam.  Lim- 
ited to  the  court  circles  and  to  the  intellectuals,  it  did 
not  outlive  its  founders.  Parallel  to  the  reform  of  the 
Egyptian  religion  attempted  by  Amenophis  IV,  which 
after  his  death  yielded  to  the  hereditary  cult,  so  the 
religious  creation  of  Akbar  came  to  an  end  with  him. 
Without  violent  disturbance,  orthodox  Islam  resumed 
its  former  control  after  Akbar 's  death  (1605),  and  it  is 
not  until  we  come  to  the  latest  rationalistic  movement 
among  Brahmans  and  Moslems  in  Anglo-India  that  we 
find  Akbar  proclaimed  as  the  precursor  of  the  effort  to 
bring  Brahmanism,  Parseeism  and  Islam  into  closer 
touch.^ 

XIV.  This  brings  us  to  a  very  modern  phase  of  the 
development  of  Islam  in  India. 

The  close  contact  with  western  civilization,  the  subjec- 
tion of  millions  of  Moslems  to  non-Moslem  rule  brought 
about  by  European  colonization  and  conquest,  resulted  in 
an  active  adaptation  to  modern  conditions  of  life,  and 
exercised  a  profound  influence  on  the  life  of  the  educated 
classes  in  their  relationship  to  inherited  religious  views 
and  customs.  As  a  consequence  of  the  necessity  of  a  com- 
promise with  new  conditions,  a  critical  differentiation 
was  attempted  between  fundamental  principles,  and  later 
supplements  to  these  principles  which  it  was  felt  could 
be  more  easily  sacrificed  as  a  concession  to  modern  cul- 
ture. While  anxious,  on  the  one  hand  to  defend  the  doc- 
trines of  Islam  from  the  reproach  of  being  adverse  to 
culture,  and  endeavoring  to  prove  the  adaptability  of  its 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  331 

teachings  to  all  conditions  and  peoples,  it  became  on  the 
other  hand  all  the  more  necessary,  because  of  these  con- 
cessions, to  protect  the  cultural  value  of  the  fundamentals 
of  Islam  from  foreign  points  of  view. 

It  is  an  inherent  defect  of  such  apologetic  activity, 
despite  the  fact  that  it  is  actuated  by  the  honest  endeavor 
to  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  to  manifest  a 
rationalistic  tendency  which  frequently  fails  to  do  justice 
to  historical  considerations.  These  rationalistic  efforts, 
which  aim  to  adapt  Islamic  thought  and  life  to  the 
demands  of  western  culture,  led  in  India,  on  the  part  of 
the  enlightened  of  the  Moslem  faith,  to  a  fruitful  social 
and  literary  activity.  Seid  Amir  'All,  Sir  Seid  Ahmed 
Khan  Bahadur,  together  with  other  influential  figures  of 
the  Moslem  world,  have  become  the  leaders  of  this  spiri- 
tual movement  of  reorganization  which  is  attempting  to 
reform  Islam.  The  results  of  this  effort  are  shown  in 
the  new  spiritual  life  of  Indian  Islam,  which  is  constantly 
advancing  along  the  road  to  culture.  Their  task  is  to 
justify  the  existence  of  Islam  in  its  rationalistic  formula- 
tion in  the  midst  of  the  currents  of  modern  civilization. 

These  efforts,  which  those  with  a  conservative  instinct 
are  fond  of  designating  as  the  new  Mu'tazila,  have  led  to 
a  rich  literature  of  theological  and  historical  treatises, 
books  and  periodicals  both  in  English  and  in  native 
tongues.  They  have  led  also  to  the  formation  of  influ- 
ential Moslem  associations  in  which  this  reformed  Islam 
finds  public  expression.  They  have  established  numerous 
schools  of  all  grades,  among  which  the  university  of 
Aligarh,  made  possible  by  the  generosity  of  Moslem 
princes,  occupied  the  first  place.  The  above  mentioned 
Agha  Khan,  the  present  head  of  the  remnants  of  the 
Isma'ilites,  is  also  one  of  the  patrons  of  this  as  well  as 
of  many  other  educational  projects.  This  Moslem  mod- 
ernism first  manifesting  itself  in  India  under  one  influence 
or  another,  and  at  first  limited  in  its  sphere,  has  seized 


332  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

hold  of  the  religious  thought  of  Moslems  in  other  lands, 
such  as  Egypt,  Algiers,  Tunis  and  more  particularly 
among  the  Tartars  living  in  provinces  under  Eussian 
rule.^ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  cultural  efforts  in  the 
various  parts  of  the  Islamic  world,  by  virtue  of  their  close 
contact  with  the  religious  life,  contain  the  seeds  of  a  new 
phase  of  Islam,  and  may  perhaps  even  lead  in  the  pro- 
gress of  theology  to  a  scientific  and  historical  study  of 
the  sources  of  the  religion. 

XV.  Out  of  these  intellectual  tendencies  there  has 
arisen  the  newest  sect  of  Islam  in  India,  the  study  of 
which,  however,  for  the  present,  still  offers  considerable 
difficulty.  The  founder  of  the  Ahmediyya,  as  it  is  called, 
Mirza  Ghulam  Ahmed,  from  Kadhian  in  Punjab,  has  con- 
nected the  movement  with  his  supposed  discovery  of  the 
authentic  grave  of  Jesus  on  the  Khan  jar  road  in  Sringar 
near  Kashmir,  and  which  is  identical  with  the  grave  of 
an  otherwise  unknown  saint  Jus-Asaf,  probably  of  Bud- 
dhistic origin.  Jesus  is  supposed  to  have  escaped  his 
persecutors  in  Jerusalem  and  in  his  wanderings  towards 
the  east  to  have  come  to  this  spot,  where  he  died.  With 
this  discovery,  supported  by  literary  evidence,  Ghulam 
Ahmed  aims  to  denv  the  Christian  as  well  as  the  Islamic 
tradition  about  the  fate  of  Jesus.  He  himself  claims  to 
be  the  Messiah  for  the  seventh  millennium  ^4n  the  spirit 
and  power''  of  Jesus,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Mahdi 
expected  by  the  Mohammedans.  In  accord  with  an 
Islamic  tradition,  God  is  supposed  to  call  a  special  indi- 
^ddual  at  the  beginning  of  every  century,  and  to  renew 
the  religion  of  Islam.  Sunnis  and  Shi^tes  zealously 
count  the  men  who  have  been  recognized  each  century  as 
^'renewers.''  The  last  of  these  men  will  be  the  Mahdi 
himself.  It  is  this  claim  which  Ahmed  makes  as  the 
religious  ''renewer,''  sent  by  God  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  century.    With  this  double  claim  of  being 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  333 

both  the  reappearing  Jesus  and  the  Mahdi,  to  whom  for 
the  Hindus  he  associates  the  character  of  ** avatar/^  he 
represents  not  only  the  embodiment  of  the  hope  of  Islam 
for  a  world  triumph,  but  also  his  universal  mission  for 
all  mankind.  His  tirst  public  appearance  was  in  the  year 
1880,  but  it  is  only  since  1889  that  he  has  won  followers, 
and  for  the  strengthening  of  his  prophetic  mission 
has  appealed  to  signs  and  miracles  as  well  as  to  fulfilled 
prophecies.  A  solar  and  lunar  eclipse  in  Ramadan 
(1894)  served  him  as  a  proof  of  his  Mahdi  character; 
since  according  to  Mohammedan  tradition,  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Mahdi  was  to  be  announced  through  such 
phenomena.  But  the  characteristic  distinction  of  his 
claim  to  be  the  Mahdi  from  the  general  Islamic  Mahdi 
doctrine,  consists  in  the  peaceful  character  of  his  mission. 
The  Mahdi  of  Islamic  orthodoxy  is  a  warrior  who  fights 
unbelief  with  the  sword,  and  whose  path  is  red  with 
blood.  The  Shi'ites  accord  him  among  other  titles,  ^^the 
man  of  the  sword. ''^  The  new  prophet  is  a  prince  of 
peace.  He  nullified  the  jihad  (crusade)  as  among  the 
duties  of  the  Moslem,  and  advocates  among  his  adherents 
peace  and  tolerance.  He  condemns  fanaticism  and 
strives  to  awaken  among  all  his  followers  a  spirit  favor- 
able to  culture.^  In  the  creed  which  he  has  drawn  up 
for  his  community  great  stress  is  laid  on  the  ethical 
virtues  of  Moslems.  He  strives  for  the  regeneration  of 
manldnd  through  the  strengthening  of  belief  in  God,  and 
through  release  from  the  bonds  of  sin.  At  the  same  time, 
he  demands  adherence  to  the  chief  duties  of  Mohamme- 
danism. In  his  declarations  he  appeals  to  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  to  the  Koran  and  to  trustworthy 
Hadiths.  Outwardly  he  is  anxious  to  be  in  accord  with 
the  Koran,  but  on  the  other  hand,  is  very  skeptical  about 
the  traditions,  which  he  subjects  to  a  critical  test.  As  a 
result  there  are  many  deviations  from  the  structure  of 
orthodox  Islam,  in  so  far  as  it  is  built  on  the  Hadith. 


334  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

Connected  with  Ms  propaganda  is  an  educational 
campaign  in  which  even  instruction  in  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage has  its  place.  In  1907,  the  community  of  the  new 
Mahdi  was  said  to  have  reached  the  number  of  70,000 
adherents.  It  has  drawn  especially  from  the  Moslems 
influenced  by  European  civilization.  The  Mahdi  is  him- 
self a  voluminous  writer,  and  has  explained  his  doctrine 
for  Moslems,  and  presented  the  proofs  for  the  truth  ot 
his  mission,  in  more  than  sixty  theological  writings  in 
Arabic  and  Urdu.  Through  the  publication  of  a  monthly 
periodical,  ''Review  of  Religions,''  Ahmed  tries  to  reach 
the  non-oriental  world.^  This  therefore  appears  to  be 
the  latest  sect  appearing  in  Islam.^  Ahmed  Khadlana 
died  in  Lahore  on  the  26th  of  May,  1908 ;  his  grave  is  in 
Kadhian  (70  miles  from  Lahore).  It  bears  the  inscrip- 
tion ''Mirza  Ghulam  Ahmed  mau'd"  (the  Promised 
One).  According  to  his  will,  the  government  of  his  com- 
munity was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  a  person  freely  chosen 
by  his  followers.  The  choice  fell  on  Mulavi  Nur  al-din. 
Successors  are  to  be  chosen  similarly  until,  at  the  end 
of  time,  the  new  Mahdi  shall  arise  from  the  descendants 
of  the  founder. 

XVI.  In  conclusion  there  is  still  another  tendency 
within  certain  circles  of  Islam  that  merits  attention. 

Various  efforts  have  been  made  in  the  course  of  Islamic 
history  to  cover  the  gap  between  Sunnis  and  Shi'ites. 
Owing  to  many  features  which  these  two  phases  of  Islam 
have  in  common,  the  public  results  of  this  sectarianism 
have  assumed  an  importance  only  where  ShT'ism  has 
been  organized  as  the  controlling  state  church.  Of  such 
Shi'itic  states  there  have  not,  however,  been  many  in  the 
history  of  Islam.  In  such  state  organizations  (pages 
262-3)  Shi' ism  assumed  the  character  of  an  extensive 
church  community,  as  against  the  Sunnitic  constitution 
of  other  lands. 

The  present  position  of  Persia  as  the  leading  power 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS.  335 

of  Shi^sm  reverts  to  the  rise  of  the  Sefewi-dynasty 
(1501-1721),  which  after  earlier  unsuccessful  attempts,^ 
finally  raised  Shi4sm  within  its  domain  to  the  position 
of  the  ruling  form  of  religion,  in  contrast  to  the  neigh- 
boring Turkish  state.  After  the  fall  of  this  dynasty, 
however,  the  great  conqueror.  Nadir  Shah,  having  signed 
a  peace  treaty  with  Turkey,  endeavored  to  bring  the  two 
sects  together,  an  undertaking  which  was  frustrated 
through  his  death  in  1747.  In  the  notes  of  the  Sunni 
theologian  ^Abdallah  ibn  Husein  al-Suweidi  (b.  1104/ 
1692;  d.  1174/1760)-  which  have  recently  been  published, 
we  possess  an  interesting  contemporary  document  of  a 
synod  of  the  theologians  of  both  sides,  called  together 
by  Nadir  Shah,  in  which  a  compromise  was  brought  about 
by  adding  to  the  four  orthodox  rites  of  Sunni  Islam  a  fifth 
orthodox  Madhah^  (rite).  According  to  this  compromise 
there  might  have  been  added  to  the  existing  chapels  or 
''Places"  (Makam)  in  Mecca  of  the  four  orthodox 
ritual  a  fifth  Makam  for  the  ritual  of  the  Jafari,  now 
recognized  as  orthodox,  by  virtue  of  being  the  nearest 
approach  to  the  orthodox  system  within  the  Shritic 
phase  of  Islam.  All  this,  however,  soon  turned  out  to  be 
a  visionary  Utopia.  The  mutual  inherited  hatred  of  the 
theologians  of  the  two  sects  prevented  them  from  carry- 
ing out  the  tolerant  efforts  of  the  shah  after  his  death. 

Later,  in  the  former  half  of  the  last  century,  we  en- 
counter another  temporary  union  of  the  two  sects,  united 
in  a  struggle  for  freedom  against  the  oppressor  Shamil 
(or  rather  Shamwil,  Samuel)  and  his  Murids  in  the 
Caucasus.  This,  however,  was  a  patriotic,  not  a  theo- 
logical demonstration. 

The  movement  so  much  spoken  of  in  the  last  decade, 
and  which  under  the  name  of  pan-Islamism  is  sometimes 
regarded  as  a  danger,  and  at  times  a  specter,  has  given 
rise  in  Mohammedan  circles  to  the  idea  of  a  possible 
union  for  the  sects.    Apart  from  pan-Islamic  tendencies, 


336  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

and  as  a  consequence,  rather,  of  modern  cultural  efforts, 
such  suggestions  of  unity  have  also  arisen  in  Russian 
Islamic  provinces,  concomitant  with  many  indications  of 
a  healthy  progress  within  the  Islamic  population.  Sun- 
nites  take  part  in  the  service  in  Shi^tic  mosques,  and  in 
Astrakan  listen  to  the  preacher  who  declares:  ^* There 
is  in  reality  only  one  Islam :  it  was  only  the  unfortunate 
influence  of  the  philosophers  and  of  Greek  customs  which 
brought  about  the  schism  through  the  controversies  of 
the  commentators  of  the  time  of  the  'Abbasides."  In 
the  same  service  the  Imam  unites  the  praise  of  Hasan 
and  Husein,  the  martyrs  of  the  Shf  ites,  with  that  of  the 
caliphs  whose  names  the  genuine  Shi4te  was  wont  to 
accompany  with  curses  and  with  thoughts  of  fanatical 
hatred.* 

On  August  23,  1906,  a  Moslem  congress  in  Kasan  took 
up  the  question  of  the  religious  instruction  for  the  young. 
The  conclusion  was  reached  that  only  one  and  the  same 
text  book, should  be  used  for  Sunnis  and  Sh^ites,  and 
that  the  teachers  might  be  chosen  equally  from  either  of 
the  two  sects.^  The  common  religious  instruction  of 
Shi'ite  and  Sunni  youth  has  since  then  been  practically 
carried  out.  Similar  signs  of  an  approach  between  the 
two  opposing  sects  have  manifested  themselves  still  more 
recently  within  the  domain  of  social  life  in  Mesopotamia 
with  the  approval  of  the  Shritic  authorities  of  Nejef.^ 

Such  signs,  however,  are  for  the  present  isolated 
phenomena,  and  in  view  of  other  phenomena,  it  is  still 
doubtful  whether  this  marked  tendency  will  extend  to 
larger  circles. 


NOTES.  337 


NOTES. 


I.  1.  Ed.  Westermarck,  ''The  Origin  and  Development  of  Moral 
Ideas"  I.  (London  1907)  161.  Further  examples  are  to  be 
found,  vol.  2,  p.  519,  ff.,  from  among  primitive  people  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  worship  of  the  dead. 

2.  Cf.  "Kultur  der  Gegenwart"  100.  This  feeling  still  prevails 
to-day  among  these  Arabs  who  have  not  come  under  the  influ- 
ence of  foreign  culture.  In  various  parts  of  their  territory 
they  use  the  word  silf  (ancestral  custom)  to  denote  the  concep- 
tion of  Sunna  in  this  sense.  See  Landberg,  "Etudes  sur  les 
Dialectes  de  I'Arabie  Meridionale. "    II  (Leiden  1909)  743. 

3.  See  Goldziher,  Muhammedanische  Studien  I.  9-12. 

4.  Ibn  Sa'd  III,  I  37,  3;  VIII,  29,  10.  Mohammed  himself  desig- 
nates his  warnings  as  dikr  muhdath  (Sur.  21,  v.  2,  Sur.  26,  v.  4) ; 
which,  however,  the  commentators  take  in  the  sense  of  a  ''re- 
peated warning." 

5.  Cf.  D.  B.  MacDonald  "Moral  Education  of  Young  among 
Muslims."      (Int.  Journal  of  Ethics.  Phil.  1905,  290.) 

6.  According  to  the  principle  of  strict  Sunna,  even  an  ordinary 
polite  formula  must  be  legitimized  through  a  traditional  sub- 
stantiation: "Whence  has  it  been  taken?"  Ibn  Sa'd  VI  121,  6. 
In  this  sense  entirely  innocent  polite  phrases  are  rejected  as 
against  Sunna.  ZDMG  XXVIII,  310,  Kilt  al-Tculub  (Cairo  1310) 
I,  163,  cf.  also   "Eevue  du  Monde  Musulman,"    III,  130. 

II.  1.  Cf.  the  Lit.  by  Muh.   Taufik  al-Bekri,  Beit-SiddlTc    (Cairo  1323, 
404  ff.). 
2.  WZKM  XV,  33  f£. 
III.  1.  To  Muwatta  (ed.  Cairo)  I,  360. 

2.  Eevue  du  Monde  Musulman  III,  60. 

3.  Among  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  deposition  of  the  Moroccan 
sultan  'Abd  al-'Aziz,  was  his  authorization  of  the  "bank  which 
permits  interest  in  money, ' '  and  ' '  which  is  a  great  sin. ' '  Revue 
du  Monde  Musulman  V,  428.  See  further  Hartmann  in  Mitt. 
des  Semin.  f.  orient.  Sprachen  XII,  vol.  II  101,  for  the  religious 
problems  occasioned  by  this  question  for  the  Moslems  of  mod- 
ern India.  Cf.  Ben  'Ali  Fakar,  "L'Usure  en  Droit  mus." 
(Lyon  1908)  especially  119,  128.  See  on  the  law  of  usury  in 
Islam,  Th.  W.  Juynboll,  Handbuch  des  Islamischen  Gesetzes, 
270  fe.  lit.  ibid.  358,  12th  from  below  fP. 

4.  On  the  basis  of  the  term  sMrd  in  Sura  42,  6.  The  speech  with 
which  the  new  Turkish  sultan  opened  a  new  session  of  parliament 
on  the  14th  of  November  1909  began  with  a  reference  to  "The 
parliamentary  government  prescribed  by  Shar'    (religious  law)." 

5.  Modern  Mohammedan  scholars  regard  it  as  an  axiom  that   "dans 


338  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

ce    reveil    un    retour    a    Pancien    etat    de    choses    etablis    par    le 
propliete    et    preconcise    par    lui"     are    to    be    recognized.     (Dr. 
Eiad    Ghali,     ''De    la    Tradition    consideree    comme    source    du 
droit  Mus.'^   5.)      This  tendency  has  called  forth  in  late  years 
a  great  number  of  apologetic  writings  by  Moslem  theologians. 
IV.  1.  See  Kuenen,    ''National  Eeligions  and  Universal  Eeligions."    54. 
VI.  1.  Muh.  Studien  II,  277  ff.  E.  Doutte,    "Les  Marabouts"     (Paris 
1900;     reprint   from   the   Eevue    de   I'Hist.    des   Eelig.    XL   and 
XLI).     Cf.  also  my  lecture    "Die  Fortschritte  der  Islam-Wissen- 
schaft  in   den  letzen   drei  Jahrzehnten. "      (Preuss.   Jahrb,   1905 
CXXI  292-298  =  Congress  of  Arts  and  Science,  Universal  Expos. 
St.  Louis  1904,  II  508-515.) 
VIII.  1.  Euting,    "Tagebuch    einer    Eeise    in    Innerarabien, "     I    (Leiden 
1896)    157  ff.      For    further    literature    on    the    Wahhabites,    see 
Th.  W.  JuynboU  1.  c.  28,  note  2.    The  opposition  of  the  Wahhabites 
to  all  innovations  not  founded  on  the  old  uses  of  Islam  has  some- 
times  given   rise   to   the   misunderstanding,   that   their   practices 
are  based  exclusively  on  the  Koran.     This  error  appears  in  the 
otherwise    excellent    description    of    Wahhabitic    tendencies    by 
Charles    Didier,     "Ein    Aufenthalt    bei    dem    Gross-Scherif    von 
Mekka"     (deutsche  Ubers.     Leipzig   1862)    222-255.     The  same 
error  is  made  by  Baron  Ed.  Nolde  in  his  "  Eeise  nach  Innearabien, 
Kurdistan  und  Armenien"   (Braunschweig  1895)   where  he  states 
that    the    Wahhabites     "reject    every    tradition    including    also, 
and  primarily,  Sunna"    whereas  just  the  contrary  is  the  case. 
2.  Ibn  Jubeir,    "Travels"-    ed.  Wright-de  Goeje  190,  13. 
IX.  1.  Wetzstein,     "  Eeisebericht    iiber    Hauran    und    die    Trachonen" 
(Berlin  1860)  150. 
X.  1.  Kult.  d.  Gegenw.  128,  14-28. 

2.  Cf.  Zeitschrift  fiir  Assyr.  XXII  337. 

3.  " Sendschreiben  des  Beha  Allah"    ed.  V.  Eosen   (St.  Petersburg, 
Academy  1908)  I  112,  2-5. 

4.  Ibid.  19,  7;    94,  24. 

5.  Journ.  Eoy.  As.  Soc.  1892,  326-335. 

6.  Sendschreiben    71,    15;     82,    22;     84   below.      The    entire    epistle 
no.  34  is  devoted  to  a  polemic  against  the  Bayans. 

7.  Ed.    A.    H.    Toumansky    (Memoires    de   I'Academie   imp.    de    St. 
Petersbourg  1899;    VIII.  Serie  Vol.  Ill  No.  6). 

8.  Sendschreiben  18,  21;    20,  14  ff.;    94  below;    93,  20. 

9.  Kitdh  AMas  No.  212.  276.  468. 

10.  Miss  Ethel  Eosenberg,  "Behaism,  its  ethical  and  social  teach- 
ings" (in  Transactions  of  the  third  Inter nat.  Congr.  for  the 
History  of  Eeligions.     Oxford  1908,  I  324). 

11.  Kitdh  ATcdas  No.  164,  385. 

12.  Sendschreiben  54,  21  fe. 


NOTES.  339 

13.  Kitdl)  Akdas  No.  145,  155  ff.  324.  179.  252.  371.  386. 

14.  Miss  E.  Eosenberg  1.  c.  323. 

15.  Hippolyte  Dreyfuss,  in  '  *  Melanges-Hartwig  Derenbourg"  (Paris 
1909)   421. 

16.  Kitab  AMas  No.  284-292. 

17.  Cf.  the  account  in   ''Eevue  du  Monde  mus.''    IX  339-341. 

18.  The  portraits  of  Beha  and  'Abbas,  as  well  as  the  picture  of  the 
tomb  of  the  former  in  'Akka  are  to  be  found  in  a  publication 
hostile  to  Babiism,  bearing  the  title  "Zustande  in  heutigen  Per- 
sien,  wie  sie  das  Eeisebuch  Ibrahim  Beis  enthiiUt,"  translated  by 
Walter  Schulz  (Leipzig  1903).  The  picture  of  §ubh-i-zel  is  to 
be  found  in  E.  G.  Browne,  ''The  Tarikh-i-jadid  or  New  History 
of  .   .   .  the  Bab"    (Cambridge  1893). 

19.  Cf.  on  her  book  and  a  survey  of  its  contents  Oscar  Mann  in 
the  Oriental.  Literaturzeitung  1909,  36  ff. 

20.  Une  Istitution  Beha'ie:  "Le  Machrequou '1-Azkar  d'Achqabad" 
(Melanges-Hartwig  Derenbourg  415  ff.). 

21.  In  the  compilation:    "The  Mohammedan  World  of  to-day"    129. 

22.  See  now  the  comprehensive  article  on  Babism  and  its  history 
by  E.  G.  Browne  in  ' '  Hastings '  Encyclopedia  of  Religion  and 
Ethics"  II  299-308,  which  appeared  after  the  compilation  of 
my  manuscript.  In  this  article  will  also  be  found  the  bibliography 
of  Beha 'is  in  western  countries.  Hippolyte  Dreyfuss,  "Essai 
sur  le  Behaisme,  son  histoire,  sa  portee  sociale. "  Paris  (Leroux) 
1909,  Eoemer,  die  Babi-Behai  (Potsdam  1911). 

22a.  The  lectures  given  by  'Abbas  Effendi  in  American  cities  pub- 
lished in  the  "Star  of  the  West"  No.  Ill  12  (San  Francisco). 
"Wisdom  Talks  of  Abdul  Beha"  at  Chicago,  AprH  30— May  5, 
1912 — where  his  dedication  address  is  also  given. 

23.  Miss  Jean  Masson  in  the  January  number  1909  of  the  Ameri- 
can Eeview  of  Eeviews  reports  the  remarkable  progress  of  Beha- 
ism,  for  which  she  claims  the  distinction  of  being  the  Ulti- 
mate Eeligion. 

24.  E.  G.  Browne  in  the  Journ.  Eoy.  As.  Soc.  1892,  701. 

XI.  1.  Cf.  Ibn  Batuta,  "Voyages"  (Paris)  IV  29;  223  on  Indian 
provinces:  "Most  of  their  inhabitants  are  unbelievers,"  i.  e. 
heathen  (kuffar)  under  the  protection  of  Moslems,  taht  al- 
dimma  also  "ahl  al  dimma"  (those  standing  under  protec- 
tion), as  also  Jews  and  Christians  who  merely  pay  the  jizya  are 
designated.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  an  Islamic  prince  in 
India  allowed  the  Chinese  to  erect  a  pagoda  on  Moslem  terri- 
tory in  return  for  the  payment  of  the  jizya  (Ibn  Batuta  IV  2). 
2.  On  the  mutual  influence  of  Hinduism  on  Islam  M.  C.  Westcott 
published  an  address  in  1908,  which  is  unfortunately  inaccessible 
to  me. 


340  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

3.  e.  g.  For  tlie  influence  of  the  caste  system  see  Kohler 
^'Zeitschrift  fur  vergl.  Eeehtswissenscliaf t "  1891,  X,  83  ff. 
On  the  aversion  to  the  remarriage  of  widows  see  Muh.  Studien  II 
333;  this  aversion  is  also  found  outside  of  India  in  the  province 
of  Jorjan  Mukaddasi  ed.  de  Goeje  370,  9.  Cf.  further  for  such 
phenomena,  John  Campbell  Oman,  * '  The  Mystics  and  Saints 
of  India"    (London  1905)   135-136. 

4.  T.  Block  in  ZDMG  LXII  654  note  2. 

5.  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje,  ^'De  Atjehers"  (2  vol.),  tr.  by  A.  W.  S. 
Sullivan  (2  vol.  Leiden  1906).  The  same  '*Het.  Gayoland  en 
zejne  bewoners"  (Batavia  1903).  R.  J.  Wilkinson,  ''Papers  on 
Malay  subjects.  Life  and  Customs"  (Kuala  Lumpur  1908).  Cf. 
''Revue  du  M.  mus."    VII  45  ff.  94  f.  180-197. 

6.  T.  "W.  Arnold,  "Survivals  of  Hinduism  among  the  Mohamme- 
dans of  India"  (Transactions  of  the  third  internat.  Congr. 
Hist,  of  Eel.  I  314  ff.). 

7.  The  literature  of  this  widespread  movement  as  well  as  the  data 
for  its  extension  and  the  statement  of  its  results  are  given  by 
Hubert  Jansen,  "Verbreitung  des  Islams"  (Friedrichshagen 
1897)    25-30. 

8.  About  this  work  see  Journ.  Roy.  As.  Soc.  XIII  (1852)  310-372: 
"Translation  of  the  Takwiyat-ul-Islam  etc."  (About  Ahmed  see 
now  the  article  in  the  Encyclopedia  of  Islam  I  201^.) 

XII.  1.  Oman  1.  c.  126. 

2.  Journ.  Roy.  As.  Soc.  1907,  325.  485.  Grierson  ibid.  501-503, 
cf.  ibid.  1908,  248. 

3.  Oman  1.  c.  also  places  Kabir's  teachings  under  the  influence  of 
Islam. 

4.  The  same  view  is  held  by  Oman  1.  c.  132.  M.  Bloomfield,  in  his 
"Religion  of  the  Veda,  the  Ancient  Religion  in  India"  (Ameri- 
can Lectures  on  the  History  of  Religions,  sr.  VII  1906-7)  10  char- 
acterizes this  religious  system  as  "Mohammedanism  fused  with 
Hinduism  in  the  hybrid  religion  of  the  Sikhs";  against  the  view, 
however,  see  A.  Berriedale  Keith  in  Journ.  Roy.  As.  Soc.  1908 
884.  (Cf.  also  Revue  du  Monde  mus.  IV  681  ff.  Antoine  Cabaton, 
"Les  Sikhs  de  I'Inde  et  le  Sikhisme"  and  ibid.  IX  361-411:  J. 
Vinson,    "La  Religion  des  Sikhs.") 

5.  Macauliffe  in  Actes  du  XI Ve  Congr es  des  Orientalistes  (Algiers 
1905)   I  137-63. 

6.  Oman  1.  c.  133. 

XIII.  1.  "Encyclopedia  of  Islam"  I  89^.  "The  penitents  of  the  Leba- 
non" (ibid,  line  38)  are  not  the  Druses,  but  Islamic  ascetics, 
who  dwell  primarily  in  the  Lebanon  mountains.  "Yakut"  IV 
348,  I.  Especially  that  part  of  the  mountains  (Province  of  Anti- 
och  and  Massisa),  known  as  al-LuTckam  z=.  (Amanus,  see  Lammens, 


NOTES.  341 

Mo'dwiyya  I  15),  is  famous  as  the  dwelling  place  of  great 
saints:  Jafi'i,  Baud-al  rajdhm  49,  5;  54,  14;  156,  1;  For  Syria 
as  a  place  of  saints  and  penitents,  see  ZDMG  XXVIII  295. 

2.  Cf.  T.  Bloch  in  ZDMG,  LXIII,  101,  22  ff. 

3.  ''Eevue  de  I'Histoire  des  Eeligions"    LI  153  ff. 

XIV.  1.  On  -the  last  movement  see  H.  Vambery,  ''Die  Kulturbestre- 
bungen  der  Tartaren"  (Deutsche  Eundschau  1907,  XXXIII  72- 
91).  Eegarding  the  favorable  progress  of  instruction  in  these 
provinces,  see  Molla  Aminoff,  ''Les  Progres  de  Tinstruction  chez 
les  Musulmans  russes"  (Eevue  du  M.  mus.  IX  247-263;  295). 
XV.  1.  Kulini,  Usui  al  Kdfl  350. 

2.  Cf.  M.  Hartmann  in  ' '  Mitteilungen  des  Seminars  fiir  Oriental- 
ische  Sprachen"    in  Berlin,  Jahrg.  XI  vol.  II  25,  7  ff. 

3.  A  detailed  account  of  this  movement  and  of  its  aims  as  set 
forth  in  his  own  words  by  a  participant  is  given  by  Th.  Houtsma 
in  the  ''Eevue  du  Monde  musulman"  I  (February,  1907).  "Le 
mouvement  religieux  des  Ahmadiyya  aux  Indes  anglaises." 

4.  Eeference  should  also  be  made  to  the  Tchaiherinje,  a  sect 
which  arose  in  the  sixties  of  the  former  century  in  connection 
with  the  rise  of  the  Mohammedans  in  their  Chinese  territory 
(Kansu).  This  was  started  by  a  certain  Ma-hua-long  who  claimed 
to  be  a  prophet.  However,  the  notices  of  the  previous  history, 
the  character  and  the  tendencies  of  this  Chinese  Islamic  sect 
(Sin-Kiao  i.  e.  new  religion,  in   contrast  to   Lao-Kiao,  i.   e.   old 

religion),  are  entirely  too  uncertain  to  permit  of  a  comprehensive 
♦presentation  in  this  connection.  The  French  Mission  d'Ollone 
has  lately  interested  itself  in  this  phenomenon.  See  "Eevue  du 
Monde  Mus."  V.  93  459  and  especially  ibid.  IX  538.  561  ff. 
Eegarding  older  religious  movements  in  Chinese  Islam  cf.  J.  de 
Groot,  "Over  de  Wahabietenbewegung  in  Kansoeh"  1781-1789 
(Verslagen  en  Mededeelingen,  Akad.  d.  Wetensch.,  Amsterdam 
1903,  Letterkunde  IV.  Eeeks  130-3). 
XVI.  1.  The  following  fact  is  worth  mentioning  as  such  an  attempt.  In 
the  fourteenth  century,  the  governor  of  the  province  of  Fars 
wished  to  afford  the  Shiite  officials  recognition.  Owing  to  the 
stubborn  opposition  of  the  Kadi  al-kudat  of  Shiraz,  Mejd  al-din 
Abu  Ibrahim  al-Bali  (d.  756/1355  in  Shiraz  at  the  age  of  94) 
this  effort  failed,  but  for  which,  however,  he  had  to  suffer  con- 
siderably. As  early  as  his  fifteenth  year  this  Mejd  al-din  was 
appointed  chief  Kadi.  Subsequently  deposed,  he  had  as  suc- 
cessor the  famous  Koran  commentator  and  theologian  Baidawi. 
After  six  months  he  was  reinstated,  but  soon  was  again  obliged  to 
yield  to  Baidawi.  However,  after  a  second  deposition  of  the 
latter,  he  retained  the  office  until  his  death.  Subki,  Tabakat 
al-SMfi'iyya  VI  83,  where  the  statement  that  he  held  the  office 
for  75  years  rests  upon  a  scribal  error. 


342  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

2.  Cf.  in  regard  to  him  Mashrik  XI  275,  where  1170/1756  is  given 
as  the  date  of  his  death.  No  reference  is  made  there  to  this 
work  of  Suwaidi. 

3.  Kitdb  al-liujaj  al-Tcat'iyyia  li-ttifak  al-isldmiya  (Cairo,  Khanji, 
1323). 

4.  Eevue  du  Monde  mus.  I  116,  cf.  II  389  ff. 

5.  Ibid.  I  160,  cf.  II  534. 

6.  Ibid.  IX  311  (October  1909). 


ERRATA.* 

Page  6.  12th  line  from  below :  The  form  Hagada  is  perhaps 
preferable  for  English  readers. 

Page  15.  4th  line  from  below:  Should  read  as  follows: 
'disposition  of  the  races.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  Islam'  etc. 

Page  17.  The  last  sentence  of  the  first  paragraph  should 
read  as  follows:  'to  the  same  teachings,  according  to  Moham- 
medan tradition,  Adam  is  represented  as  impressing  upon  his 
children  just  before  his  death,  "As  I  approached  the  forbidden 
tree  I  felt  unrest  in  my  heart,"  that  is,  his  conscience  troubled 
him.' 

Page  23.  At  the  bottom  of  the  page  and  the  first  lines  of  page 
24,  should  read  as  follows :  ' '  Goodly  promises  hath  he  made  to  all, 
but  to  the  zealous  fighters  the  promise  of  a  rich  recompense, 
above  those  who  sit  at  home, — there  will  be  gradations  in  rank 
and  forgiveness  and  mercy,  for  God  is  indulgent.  Merciful" 
(Sura  4,  v.  97,  98). 

Page  28.  12th  line  from  below.  Read  'emphasis'  instead  of 
'importance.' 

Page  30.  In  note  II.  2  read  "  Orientalische  Studien"  and 
'Festschrift.'  Under  V.  3.  The  title  of  Brockelmann's  book  is 
'Geschichte  der  Arabischen  Litteratur.'  Under  VIII.  2.  Read 
Gefahr. 

Page  32.  Line  1.  Read  'perfection.'  In  the  middle  of  page 
read  muddwdt. 

Page  33.     Read  Tadkirat.    Also  page  34,  line  7. 

Page  34.  Line  11,  read  Adkar.  Under  XII.  1.  The  first 
sentence  should  read :  '  However  one  may  judge  of  the  rhetorical 
worth  of  the  Koran,  even  a  prejudicial  view  must  admit  that  the 
people  who  were  appointed'  etc. 

Page  35.  In  the  middle  of  the  page,  it  is  better  to  read 
'restriction'  instead  of  'confinement.'  Last  sentence  of  the  page 
should  read :  '  One  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that  the  first  words 
of  V.  60,  which  extends  the  liberty  of  eating  in  company  to  the 
blind,  the  lame  and  the  ill  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject.' 

Page  36.  3rd  line  from  below.  Read  'admit'  instead  of 
'submit  to.' 

Page  44.  The  second  paragraph  should  begin:  'It  had  its 
upshot  in  giving  to  every  opinion,  every  party,  every  advocate 

*  Owing  to  a  miscliance  the  first  ninety-six  pages  were  printed  before 
the  translator  could  embody  a  number  of  corrections,  chiefly  in  the  spelling 
of  Arabic  words,  as  well  as  a  number  of  stylistic  changes  to  make  the  trans- 
lation read  more  smoothly. 


344  MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 

of  any  doctrine  the  form  of  traditional  authority ;  consequently 
the  most  contradictory  teachings'  etc.  Note  also  that  all  the 
proper  names  at  the  bottom  of  this  page  should  be  in  italics. 

Page  46.  In  the  second  paragraph.  Read  'to  seek  in  the 
extensive  material  the  divergent  sources  of  which  they  are 
composed  and  to  follow  the  movement  of  which  they  constitute 
the  documents.' 

Page  51.  Last  line.  Read  divinely  given'  instead  of 
'  given. ' 

Page  54.  At  the  end  of  the  first  paragraph,  read  maddhih. 
Sing,  madhab. 

Page  60.     Line  3,  from  bottom.     Read  'some  maclahib.' 

Page  67.  Line  10.  Read  'deprived  of  instead  of  'misled 
in.' 

Page  68.  Lines  1,  8  and  10.  Read  'nabid,'  and  also  on  page 
69,  lines  7  and  18.  In  line  10  (page  68)  and  on  page  69,  line 
16,  read  Kadi.      Line  9  from  below,  Du-l-rumma. 

Page  72.  Line  3.  'what  consequences  for  family  relations 
such  a  marriage  entailed'  etc.;  and  in  the  last  paragraph  read 
'marriages'   for  'combinations.' 

Page  73.  Line  2.  Read  'we  will  encounter.'  Under  note 
II.  3.  Read  in  Latin  quotations  'afferri'  and  'ipso';  also  'de 
Syrie. ' 

Page  76.     II.  7.     Insert  the  words  'it  is'  before  'a  proof.' 

Page  80.     Note  VII.  1.      §§  26-27. 

Page  81.  Note  VIII.  7.  The  word  'permitted'  should  come 
in  the  following  line  after  halal.  Note  IX.  3.  Read  'glosses  to 
Ibn  Hisham.'     Note  IX.  Kadi. 

Page  83.  Under  X.  6.  Read  'page  7  of  the  reprint  from  the 
Revue  des  etudes'  etc. 

Page  85.  In  the  third  paragraph  read  'For  the  most 
important  religious  doctrines  we  obtain  merely  general  impres- 
sions. ' 

Page  88.  At  the  close  of  the  first  paragraph  read  'at' 
instead  of  'by'  and  in  the  first  line  of  the  second  paragraph 
'begins'  instead  of  'enters';  line  10  from  below,  read  'prophet' 
instead  of   'prophets.' 

Page  91.  Lines  5  and  6  should  read  'It  was  permissible  in 
the  interests  of  peace  in  the  state  to  perform  one's  salat  (prayer) 
in  the  company  of  the  pious  and  the  evil  doer.' 

Page  93.     Line  11.     Read  'distinct'   instead  of   'common.' 

Page  94.  In  the  second  paragraph,  read  'an  extraordinarily 
clear  perception  of  their  own  beliefs.' 

Page  96.  Line  7,  from  below.  Read  'the  wicked  people  of 
Thamud'    (better  than  Thamoud). 


INDEX. 


A. 

'Abbas  Effendi,  320,  321,  322,  323. 
'Abbaside  caliphate,  3. 

Theocratic  character,   51   ff. 

Fight  against  the  'Aliide  propa- 
ganda, 225. 

Heir  of  the  prophets,  277    (VII, 

2). 
'Abbas,    Shah   of   Persia,   286    (XII, 

9),  292   (XVII,  18). 
*Abd    al-'Aziz,    Sultan    of    Morocco, 

337  (III,  3). 
'Abd  al-Beha  (see  'Abbas  Effendi). 
'Abdalhamid  ibn-Yahya,  al-katib,  278 

(VII,  2). 
'Abdalkadir,  308. 
'Abdallah  ibn-' Abbas,  43,  253. 
'AbdaUah  ibn-al-Mubarak,  211  (XVI, 

2). 
'AbdaUah  ibn-abi-Sarh,  150. 
'AbdaUah  ibn-'Amr,  153,  231. 
'AbdaUah  ibn-Husein  al-Suweidi,  335. 
'AbdaUah  ibn-Ja'far,  206  (VII,  3). 
'AbdaUah  ibn-Mas'ud,  63,  68. 
'AbdaUah  ibn-' Omar,  20. 
'AbdaUah  ibn-Saba,  256. 
'AbdaUah  abu-Mohammed,  231. 
'Abd  al-Kahir  al-Baghdadi,  178. 
'Abdalmalik,    104,    141    (II,    1),   283 

(XII,  1). 
'Abdalmu'min,  307. 
'Abdalrahim  ibn-Ali,  75  (II,  3). 
'  Abdalrahman  ibn-al-Aswad,  159. 
al-'Abdari,  Mohammed,  146   (XI,  5). 
'Abid,  plur.  'ubbad,  141   (II,  1),  144 

(V,  2),  149,  202   (III,  1). 
Abraham,  9. 
Abu-l-'Ala      al-Ma'arri,      172,      206 

(VIII,  5). 


Abu  'Amir  al-Kurashi,  114. 

Abu  'Amr  ibn-al-'Ala,  202    (III,  1). 

Abu-l-'Atahiya,   172. 

Abu  Bekr,  34  (XII,  1),  201  (II,  20), 

216,  283    (XII,  1). 
Abu  Bekr  al-Dimishki,  280   (X,  4). 
Abu  Bekr    ibn-al-' Arabi,    210    (XVI, 

1). 
Abu  Berza,  200    (II,  11). 

Abu-1-Darda,  200    (II,  11). 

Abu  Darr,  19,  47,  182. 

Abu  Dawud,  44. 

Abu  Du'eib,  277   (IV,  3). 

Abuhamet   (see  Ghazali). 

Abu  Hanifa,  55,  60  ff. 

Work  ascribed  to  him,  289  (XIV, 

5). 
Abu  Hureira,  20,  157. 
Abu  Isra'il,  154,  159,  202  (III,  2). 
Abu  Ja'far  al-Bakir,  249. 
Abu  Jandal  and  wine,  67. 
Abulfadl  al-'AUami,  328. 
Abu-1-mahasin   ibn-Taghri   Birdi,    146 

(XII,  6),  288   (XIV,  4). 
Abu-1-Ma'mar  al-Hudali,  145  (VI,  3), 

212   (XVII,  5). 
Abu  Euhm  al-Ghifari,  30   (V,  1). 
Abu  Sa'id  Abu-1-Kheir,  184. 
Abu  Sa'id  ibn-al-A' rabi,  207  (XI,  4). 
Abu  Sa'id  Kharraj,  187. 
Abu  Talib,  211    (XVI,  2),  231. 
Abu  Yusuf,  73,  83  (X,  9). 
Adam,  17. 

Adams,  Kev.  Isaac,  321. 
Adan,  251. 
Adi  Granth,  327. 
'Adl,  249. 
Adonis,  272. 
Advent,  Second  of  Christ,  244. 


346 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Agada,  6,  Mohammedan  agada,  44, 
101.  See  also  Midrash  and  Tal- 
mud. 

Agha  Khan,  254,  270,  331. 

Ahl  al-dimma,  40,  324. 

Ahl  al-kibla,  91,  194,  197  ff. 

Ahl  al-salat,  194. 

Ahl  al-tauliid,  274. 

Ahbar,  10. 

Ahmed  of  Bareli,  Sayyid,  325,  326. 

Ahmed  Khan  Bahadur,  Sir  Seyyid, 
331. 

Ahmed  ibn-al-Kayyal,     293     (XVIII, 

2). 
Ahmed   ibn-Hanbal,    56,    60,    76    (II, 

9),  78    (IV,  10),  79    (VI,  1),  121, 

128,  131,  211    (XVII,  1),  302. 
Alimed  ibn-Yaha,  144    (IV,  4). 
Ahmediyya,  332. 
Ahmed  Khadiana,  334. 
al-Ahwazi,  Hasan  ibn-^Ali,  146    (XI, 

3). 
^4jjaj,  141   (II,  1). 
'Aka'id,  289  (XIV,  5). 
Akbar,  328  ff. 

Akhbariyyun,  291   (XVII,  4). 
Akka,  322. 

'Akkaf  ibn-Wada  al-HHali,  154. 
Aktimosini,  164. 
Alfarabi,  31   (IX,  1). 
al-Gazel  (see  Ghazali). 
'All  al-Kari,  277   (VII,  1),  279   (IX, 

4,  9). 
'All,   43,   77    (III,   4),    92,    142    (II, 

18),    215    ff.,    276     (III,    7),    283 

(XII,  1). 
His  asceticism,  202   (III,  5). 
In  Sufiism,  170  ff. 
In     relation     to     Sunnites     and   j 

Shiites,  216  ff. 

Divinity,   272   ff.,   251,  281    (XI, 
5). 

Belief    in    his    return,    241,    281 

(XI,  5). 

Compared  with  Jesus,  ibid. 


Supposed  founder  of  the  Mu'  tazi- 
lah  dogma,  249. 

God  of  thunder,  272. 

God  of  the  Arabs,  272. 

Moon  god,  273. 

In  the  Trinity,  274. 
Aligarh,  University  of,  331. 
'All  ibn-Husein,  31   (VII,  2). 
'AH  ibn-Ja'far      ibn-al-Aswad,      286 

(XII,.  8). 
'Ali-ilahi,  233,  278  (VIII,  2). 
'All  Mohammed,  Seyyid,  276  (III,  6). 
'All  al-Murtada,  'Alam  al-huda,  287 
XIV,  1),  290  (XV,  5),  292  (XVII, 
18),  293  (XVII,  22). 
'All  Wefa,  281  (XI,  5). 
Allah  (see  God). 
All  India  Moslem  League,  271 
Almohad  movement,  307. 
Alms,  8,  13,  21,  38,  155. 
Amalrikites,  167. 
Amir  'Ali,  Seyyid,  331. 
Amir  al-mu'minin,  223. 
'Amma,  262. 
'Amr  ibn-Sa'id,  104. 
'Amr  ibn-'Ubeid,  107. 
Annali  dell  Islam,  22. 
Anthropomorphism,  133  ff. 

Ash'ari's  literal  view,  129  ff. 

Eationalistically  explained,  130  ff. 

In  tradition,  130  ff. 

In  Shiism,  248,  256. 
Anti-Lebanon,   259. 
Apocrypha,  6. 
Arabia,  4,  9,  23. 
Arabian  prophet,  3. 
Aristotle    and    Aristotelianism,     105, 

137. 
Arnold,  T.  W.,  325. 
al-Ash'ari,     Abu-1-Hasan,     116,     118, 
122,  123,  126,  127,  129,  139,  196  ff. 
al-Ash'ari,  Abu  Musa,  204  (V,  4). 
Asharites,  131,  135,  143  (II,  22). 
Ashkabad,  321. 
'Ashura,  254. 


INDEX. 


347 


al-'Askari,  Abu  Mohammed    (Hidden 

One),  240. 
al-Asma'i,  186. 

Assassins,  267,  270,  294  (XIX,  3). 
Astarabad,  269. 
Atman,  in  Sufiism,  175  fC.,  207    (IX, 

1). 
Atomists,  137. 
'Attar    33    (X,    4),    82    (X,    1),    209 

(XIII,  13,  17),  209  (XIV,  4,  6). 
Attributes   (see  God). 
al-Auza'i,  210   (XIX,  1). 
Avatar  (Hindu),  324,  333. 
Avieenna,  184,  190,  278   (IX,  1). 
'Ayesha,  67. 
al-Azhar,  47. 

B. 

Baalbek,  259. 

Bab,  The,  312. 

Babi,  312,  321. 

al-Baghawi,  80  (VI,  5). 

Bajah    Husein,    A.    F.,    227    fP.,    237, 

277    (IV,    10,   11),   279    (IX,    11), 

280   (X,  6). 
Bakir,  Mohammed  Damad,  287  (XIII, 

3). 
al-Baladori,   76    (II,   5),  293    (XVII, 

24).  ' 
al-BalawI,   282    (XI,   16). 
(pseudo)  Balkhi,  293  (XVIII,  5). 
al-Bali,    Mejed    al-din    abu    Ibrahim, 

341  (XVI,  1). 
Bara'a-(oath),  143   (III,  3). 
Barhebraeus,  81  (VIII,  9). 
Barlaam  and  Joasaf,  172. 
al-Basasiri,  288   (XIV,  4). 
al-Batalyusi,  abu  Mohammed  ibn-Sid, 

146   (XI,  5). 
Batiniyya,  268. 
Bayan,  315. 
al-Baydawi,     36,     79     (VI,    3),     341 

(XVI,   1). 
Bayyaniyya  sect,  234. 
Beha  al-din  al-^Amili,   143    (III,   2), 

204   (IV,  4),  209   (XIII,  14),  285, 


(XII,  6),  286  (XII,  9),  292  (XVII, 

18). 
Beha-Allah,  315,  322. 
Beha 'ism,  321. 
Behaiyya,  320. 

al-Beihaki,  78  (V,  2),  144  (V,  5). 
al-Bekri,  Mohammed  Taufik,  337   (II, 

1). 
Bektash,  171. 

Bektashis,  269. 

Berbers,  219. 

Bid' a,  297  ff.,  305. 

Bihafrid,   242. 

al-Biruni,  282   (XI,  10,  15). 

Bishr   ibn-al-Mu'tamir,   108,   280    (X, 

4). 

Bismillah  formula,  251. 

al-Bistami,  Abu  Yazid,  209  (XIII, 
14). 

(Black)  stone,  4,  13  (see  Ka'ba). 

Bombay,  271. 

Browne,  E.  G.,   171. 

al-Bukhari,  30  (VII,  2),  33  (X,  1), 
44,  76  (II,  9),  78  (IV,  4),  80 
(VIII,  1,  2,  6),  82  (IX,  20),  123, 
146  (XI,  6),  199  (II,  1),  206  (VII, 

In    connection    with    the    Shiites, 
255. 
Buddha,  206   (VIII,  2). 

Influence  of  his  legends  on  Sufi- 
ism,  172-4,  194  (VIII,  7). 
Burdeida  ibn-al-Husaib,  142  (II,  17). 
Burney,  Miss  Laura  C,  320. 
Buyide,    253. 

C. 

Caetani,  Leone,  22,  34  (X,  1),  151. 
On  the  fanaticism  of  the  Arabs, 
75   (II,  1). 

Canticle  of  Love,  168. 

Carmel,  Mount,  322. 

Carra  de  Vaux — On  free  will  in  the 
Koran,  143  (III,  4)— on  the  toler- 
ance of  the  Shiite,  256. 


348 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Charity  begins  at  home,  155. 
Chicago,  322. 
Christians,  14. 

Attitude  towards  them,  39  ff. 
Simnites    more    tolerant    towards 
them  than  Shiites,  260,  292  (XVII, 
15). 

Food,   260,  292    (XVII,   18,  19). 

Marriage  with   Christian   women, 
260. 

Sunnite  charity  shared  with,  261. 

Opposition  to  asceticism  of,  160  ff. 

Christian    elements    in    Islam,    3,    8, 

13  fe.,  30   (VII,  1). 
Christian    monasticism    influenced    by 

Sufiism,  203   (IV,  1). 
Christian  influence  on  the  Kadarites, 
100. 

On  the  ascetics,  160  ff.,  164  ff., 
172,  199  (II,  6). 

On  the  Nusairi,  273. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  179. 
Coele-Syria,  259. 
Companions,  296. 
Consensus  ecclesiae   (ijma),  57. 
Creed,  Hindu  influence  on,  324. 

D. 

Daba'ih,  ahl  al-Kitab,  282  ff.  (XVII, 

20).  " 
al-Dahabi,  76    (II,  9),  78    (V,  4,  7), 

82    (IX,  14),  82    (X,  6),  204   (IV, 

3),  204   (V,  1),  205   (VII,  1),  207 

(XI,  4),  209   (XIII,  13),  277   (IV, 

6). 
Da'i,  225. 

Da'ii-e  wali,  284  (XII,  3). 
al-Damiri,  72,  80  (VII,  3),  81  (VIII, 

5),  82    (X,  3,  4,  5),  203    (III,  9), 

279   (IX,  8). 
Dammiyya,  233. 
Daniel,  322. 
Dar  al-Harb,  125. 
al-Darimi,  81    (VII,  7). 
Dawud  al-Ta%  201  (III,  17). 


Day  of  Judgment,  5,  6,  10. 

(Dies  irae). 
Dervishes,  180  ff. 
Determinism,  100  ff. 
Dhyana  (Hindu),  175. 
Dikr,  163,  169,  176,  202  (III,  5). 
Dikri,  284   (XII,  3). 
Dildar  ^All,  282  (XI,  16),  287  (XIII, 

5). 
Din,  9. 

Din  Mulidath,  296. 
Disparitas  cultus,  215. 
Docetism,  241. 
Dogma,  194. 

Dositheos,  Dositheites,  242. 
Dreyfus,  Hippolyte,  321. 
Druses,  267,  270. 
Du-l-rumma,  68. 
Dunya,  148  ff. 

E. 

Ecclesia  oppressa,  261. 

Elias,  242. 

Elijah  Mansur,  243. 

Emanation,  doctrine  of,  264  ff. 

English  Eoyal  Asiatic  Society,  327. 

Epiphanes,  208    (XI,  8). 

Equality  of  nations  and  men  in  Beha- 

ism,  315-6. 
Eschatology,  5  ff.,  101,  108. 

Hopes,  246. 

Invisible  Imam,  242. 
Euting,  Julius,  309. 
Evil,  112. 

F. 

Fadl-AUah,   269. 

Failasiif    (philosopher),  321. 

Fakhr-din-al-Razi,  80  (VI,  4),  144 
(V,  13),  146  (XII,  1),  209  (XIII, 
14),  275   (II,  2),  287   (XIII,  5). 

Fakir,  164. 

Famagusta,  315. 

Fana,  175,  207  (IX,  1),  207  (XI, 
4). 


INDEX. 


349 


Farazdak,  144  (IV,  5),  280  (XII,  1). 

Fara'idiyya,  326. 

al-Fariki,  288  (XIV,  4). 

Farmasun  (franc-magon),  321. 

al-Fashni,  281    (XI,  5). 

Fasik,  195. 

Fasting,  8,  13,  60. 

Fatalism   (see  free  will). 

Fatiha,  60. 

Fatima,  316,  222-3. 

Fatimide  dynasty,  263,  278   (VII,  2). 

Ferid  ed-din  'Attar,  205  (VI,  7). 

Fikh  ill  religious  law,  51,  191. 

Fischer,  Aug.,  on  interpolations  in  the 

Koran,  34  (XII,  1). 
Fisk   (sin),  65. 
Five  points  of  Islam,  13. 
Frederick  II,  169. 
Free-thinkers,  106. 
Free-will,  97  ff.,  103. 
Friday,   14. 
Friedlander,  I. — Essays  on  the  Shiites, 

278    (VIII,    2-4),    281    (XI,    4-5), 

284   (XII,  2). 
Fukaha,  53. 

G. 

Gabriel,  272. 

Garbe,  Prof.  E.,  328. 
Ghassanide  conquest,  323. 
Ghazali,  Abu  Hamid  Mohammed,  189 
ff.,  197,  214,'  306,  311. 

"Generator  of  Eeligion, "    193. 

'^  Revival,"    193. 

''Criterion  of  Belief,"    197. 

Teaches  tolerance,  197. 

Fights  the  Ta'limiyya,  270. 
Ghifari,  152. 
Ghulat,  233. 
Ghusii  a'zam,  320. 
Gnostics,  14. 

Influence  on  Sufiism,  179. 

Influence  on  Shiism,  273. 

Influence  on  Behaism,  314. 
""God,  6,  7,  9  ff.,  109  ff. 

Power,  2. 


Submission  to,  6,  10,  12. 

Love,  24. 

Mercy,  24. 

God  of  war,  24. 

Cunning,  25,  26. 

Does  not  lead  astray,  99. 

Unity,  110. 

Justice,   110. 

Necessity,  111. 

Attributes,  115  ff. 
Gompers,  Theodore,  252. 
Good,    Distinction   between    evil    and^ 

112. 
Greeks,  16. 
Grierson,  Prof.,  327. 
Grimme,  Hubert,  99. 

H. 

Hadith,  43  ff. 

Importance  of,    17,   48. 

Criticism,  44. 

Reconstructed,  44." 

Shows  Koranic  aim,  45. 

Strikes   chord  of   tenderness,   46. 

Of  Abu  Darr,  47. 

Invented  later,  49. 

Growth  under  Abbasides,  53. 

Shiite  vs.  Sunnite,  255  E. 

Departure  from,  333. 
Hafiz,  167,  184,  205    (VI,  8). 
Hagada  see  Agada. 
Hajaj,   ibn   Yusuf,    88,   141    (II,   1)^ 
'  142   (II,  14). 
Hakim,  267,  270. 
Hakim  ibn  Hizam,  150. 
Hallaj,  168. 

al-Hamadani,  ibn  al-Fakih,  275  (I,  3). 
al-Hamadani,  Mohammed  ibn  'Abdal- 
rahman,   281    (XI,   5). 

Hammer-Purgstall  (Arab  canticle 
of  Love),  168. 
Hanbalites,   113   ff.,   131. 

Fanatics,    195. 

Enemy  of  Bid' a,  305. 

Hanfash,  55. 
Hanifites,  251,  143  (II,  22). 


350 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Harb,    ibn    Isma'fl    al-Kermani,    211 
'  (XVII,  1). 
Haridasa,  329. 
Harnack,  Adolf,   4. 
Hartmann,  Martin,  244. 
Harun,   (Aaron),  278  (VII,  2). 
Harun  al-Eashid,  73. 
Hasan   (Son  of  'Ali),  223,   263,   276 

(III,  7),  336. 
Hasan  ibn-'Adi,  243. 
Hasan  al-'Askari,  246,  277   (V,  3). 
Hasan  ibn-Thabit,  283   (XII,  1). 
Hasan  al-Basri,  222. 
Hawari,   (apostle),  149. 
al-HazimI,  290   (XV,  5). 
al-Heitami,  Shihab  al-din  Ahmed  ibn- 

Hajar,  34   (XI,  4),  76   (II,  9),  78 

(IV,    8,    10),    147    (XIII,    8),    285 

(XII,  5). 
Hellenistic  thought,  3. 
Hijra,  7-8. 

al-Herewi,  Abu  Isma'il,  186. 
Hermits,  180. 
al-Hilli,     Hasan      ibn-Yusuf     ibn-al- 

Mutahhar,  287  (XIII,  5). 
al-Hindi,     Siraj     al-din    'Omar,     289 

(XIV,  5). 
Hinduism — Union  with  Islam,  327. 
Hisham  (Caliph),  283   (XII,  1). 
Hisham  al-Futi,  125. 
Holy   spirit,   7. 
Horovitz,  J.,  285   (XII,  3). 
Horovitz,  S.,  (on  Kalam)   146  (XIII, 

1). 
Horten,  Max,  (on  Kalam)  146  (XIII, 

1,4). 
Huart,  CI.,   (on  Hurufi)   77  (III,  4), 

293  (XVIII,  10). 
Hudeifa,    ibn    al-Yaman,    206     (VII, 
■  3). 

Hureific,  34  (X,  4). 
Hurufi,  269. 

I. 

Ibadite,  221,  275  (II,  5),  275  (II,  12, 
13). 


Ibn  'Abbad,  Mu'ammar,  125. 

Ibn  'Abbas,  253. 

Ibn  '  Abdalbarral-Namari,     30      (IX, 

1). 

Ibn  'Abdal-Wahhab,  Mohammed,  308. 

Ibn  Anas,  45,  55,  132. 

Ibn  'Arabi,  33  (IX,  1),  282  (XI, 
16). 

Ibn  'Arab-shah,  206   (VIII,  7). 

Ibn  'Asakir,  145  (VI,  1). 

Ibn  al-Athir,  146    (XI,  6). 

Ibn  al-Hanafiyya  ibn-'Ali,  Moham- 
med, 144   (VI,  1),  158,  225,  242. 

Ibn  Hazm,  31  (IX,  1),  233,  276  (II, 
14). 

Ibn  Hisham,  69,  81  (IX,  3). 

Ibn  al-Jauzi,    78    (IV,    10),   204    (V, 

2). 
Ibn  Jubair,  277  (VII,  2),  294  (XIX, 

3),  338  (VIII,  2). 
Ibn  Kayyim  al-Jauziyya,  78   (IV,  2), 

143  (III,  1),  201  (II,  19),  205  (VI, 

13). 
Ibn  Kais  al-Eukajyat,  81  (IX,  2). 
Ibn  al-Kalanisi,' 79  (V,  9),  278  (VII, 

2),  287  (XIII,  4),  288  (XIV,  4). 
Ibn  Khalaf,  55. 
Ibn  Khaldun,  282  (XI,  16),  285 

(XII,  5). 
Ibn  KhaUikan,  82  (IX,  15),  82  (X, 

2),  82  (X,  6),  143  (II,  21),  277 

(IV,  8) 
Ibn  Kuteiba,    31    (VII,    2),    76    (II, 

7),' 81   (IX,  12),  144   (IV,  7),  199 

II,  4),  210  (XIV,  2). 
Ibn  Maja,  44,  201  (II,  17). 
Ibn  Mas'ud,  68. 
Ibn  al-MukaffaS  79   (V,  6). 
Ibn  al-Sab'in,  169. 
Ibn   Sa'd    (Biographies),   30    (V,  3), 

31    (VII,  2),  33,  34   (X,  4,  5),  34 

(XI,  5),  75  (I,  2),  (II,  2),  76  (II, 

8,  9),  77  (III,  1,  3),  78  (IV,  6),  80, 

81  (VIII,  3,  8,  10),   (IX,  6,  8,  13, 

18),  82  (X,  3),  141  (I,  2),  (II,  1, 


INDEX. 


351 


3),  142  (II,  9,  13,  16,  17,  18,  19, 
22),  144  (V,  1,  2),  146  (XI,  4), 
157,  199  (I,  1,  2,  3,  5,  6,  9),  199 
(II,  2,  3,  5,  6),  200  (II,  10,  11), 
201  (II,  15,  20,  21,  22,  23),  202 
(III,  1,  2,  3,  4),  203  (III,  11,  14), 
204  (V,  4),  212  (XVII,  6),  276 
(III,  2,  5),  277  (IV,  1,  2),  (V,  1), 
278  (VII,  5,  6),  279  (IX,  2,  3,  4, 
6),  (X,  3),  281  (XI,  5),  283  (XII, 
1),  289  (XIV,  5),  291  (XVII,  3), 
293  (XVII,  19),  337  (I,  4,  6). 

Ibn  Shubrmna,  64. 

Ibn  Sina  (see  Avicenna). 

Ibn  Sir  in,  142  (II,  15). 

Ibn  al-Ta^awidi,  283  (XII,  1). 

Ibn  Teymiyya,  Taki  al-din,  30  (V,  3), 
78  (IV,  7),  79  (VI,  2),  114,  145 
(VI,  2),  146  (XII,  4),  207  (X,  1), 
209  (XIII,  1,  3,  7,  14),  212 
(XVIII,  3),  292  (XVII,  18),  308 
f£. 

Ibrahim  al-Nakha'i,  64,  212  (XVII, 
6). 

Ibrahim  ibn-Edhem,  174,  206  (VIII, 
9),  207  (IX,  3). 

^id  al-Ghadir,  253. 

'Idiyya,  326. 

Idrisites,  263. 

Ikhlas,  18. 

IjmaS  57  fe.,  130,  193  f£.,  215  fe. 
In  Shiism,  222  fe.,  239,  298. 

Ikhwan  al-safa,  283  (XI,  16). 

Ikama,  251. 

Imam,  90  ff. 

In  the  Shiite  sense,  222  ff.,  229 

fe. 

Apotheosis  in  Shiism,  232. 
Sinlessness,  234,  238. 
Imam  Mahdi,  244. 
Importance  of,  247. 
Active  vs.  passive,  262. 
India,  171  fe.,  270. 

Islam's  hold  in,  323  fe. 


Intolerance, 

Shiite — towards  non-Moslems,  256 
fe.;    towards  Moslems,  261,  267  fe. 
Islam,  2,  3,  4,  7,  8,  10,  12,  14,  15. 

Ethical  effect,  15,  20,  26. 

Lack  of  conscience,  16. 

Virtue,  17. 

Sin,  17. 

Inculcates  morality,  17. 

Demands  ceremonial  acts,  17. 

Piety,  18. 

Niyya    (Purpose),  18. 

Steep  path,  19. 

Modified  in  Traditions,  19. 

Good  works,  20. 

Darker  sides,  21. 

MHitant,  22  ff.,  26. 

World  religion,  27-38. 

Later  development,  38. 

Mohammed's — immature,  38. 

Legal  development,  39. 

Early  tolerance,  38,  40. 

Conquests  and  soldiers,  41. 

Administration  of  justice,  42. 

Behaism  as  reformed,  316. 

Law  of — ,  superseded,  318. 

New  phase  of,  332. 

Eeligious  law  and  modes  of  life, 
257. 

Influence  on  Hinduism,  326. 
Isma'il  of  Delhi,  Maulawi,  326. 
Isma^il  al-Farani,  32   (IX,  1). 
Isma'il  ibn  Ja'far,  263  fe.,  267. 
Isma'ilites,  263  fe.,  212  (VIII,  3),  82. 
'Irak   (home  of  casuistry),  71  ff.,  82 

(X,  1),  159,  254. 
Iranians,  256. 

J. 

Jabarites,  101. 

Jacob,  George,  171,  208  (XI,  6). 
Ja'far,  al-Sadik,   228,  229,  262,  263, 

278  (VII,  3)'. 
Ja'fari   (rite),  335. 
Jafr,  279  (X,  4). 


352 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Jahiz,  16,  80  (VII,  2),  82  (X,  6), 
83"  (X,  9),  137,  141  (II,  1),  142 
(II,  18),  144  (V,  8,  10),  201  (II, 
18),  202  (III,  1,  5),  206  (VIII,  2, 
6),  212  (XVIII,  2),  279  (X,  1), 
280  (XI,  1),  281  (XI,  5),  288 
(XIV,  3),  290  (XV,  6),  293 
(XVIII,  4). 

Pseudo-Jahiz,  78  (V,  2). 

Jahmiyya,  212  (XVIII,  3). 

Ja'ir,  277  (IV,  3). 

Jami'a,  280  (X,  4). 

Jarir,  83  (X,  8),  141  (II,  1,  6),  283 
(XII,  1). 

Jelal  al-din  Kumi,  167,  174,  181,  183, 
204  (VI,  2),  205  (VI,  5,  12),  206 
(VIII,  9),  207  (IX,  2),  208   (XII, 

2,  4),  209  (XIII,  4,  6,  12). 
Jemal  al-din,  sheikh  al-Islam,  76   (II, 

9). 
Jemll  al-'Udri,  81   (IX,  2). 
Jenghis  Khan,  242. 
Jesus,   Reappearing,   333;     Grave   of, 

332. 
Jethro,  25. 

Jews,  7,  14,  43,  76  (II,  9),  276  (III, 
6). 

In  Medina,  7. 
In  Yemen,  40. 
In  Bostra,  41. 

More  kindly  treated  by  Sunnites 
than  Shiites,  260,  292  (XVII,  18), 
293  (XVII,  19). 

Marriage  with  Jewish  women, 
200  ff. 

Jewish   influence   on   Mohammed, 

3,  7,  12,  30  (VII,  1),  65. 
Judeo-Christian   influence   on   the 

Mahdi  belief,  242  fe. 
Jihad,  126,  154,  160,  325,  333. 
Jinn,  71,  82  (X,  6),  83  (X,  7). 
Jizya,  40. 

John  the  Baptist,  235,  279   (IX,  2). 
Jordan,  F.  M.,  321. 


al-Jorjani,    Abu-1-^ Abbas,    290     (XV, 

4). 
al-Jorjani,    Abu    Yahya,    288     (XIV, 

3). 
al-Juneid,  69,  187. 
Jureij,  154. 
Jus-Asaf,  332. 

K. 

Ka'ba,  4,  13. 

Kabir,  327. 

Kadarites,  101,  104. 

Kadi    (The  great  man),  53,   75    (II, 

■  3). 

Kafir,    93,   106,    195   ff.,   212    (XVII, 

5,  6),  214,  218. 
Ka'im,  247,  312. 
Kalam,  105  &.,  137. 
Kalb  Salim,  18. 
al-Kali,  33   (X,  2),  81   (IX,  11),  201 

(III,   1),   202    (III,   5),   276    (III, 

1). 
Kasim  ibn-' Abbas,  243. 

al-Kastallani,  201   (II,  18),  283   (XI, 

16). 
Kalkhi,  242. 
al-Kashi    or    al-Kashani,    ^Abdarraz- 

zak,  205   (VII,  1). 
al-Kazimi,   Asad  Allah,   279    (X,   2), 

280'    (X,    4),    281     (XI,    2),    287 

(XIII,  4). 
Kazwini,  272,  275    (I,  2),  294   (XX, 

■  3). 

Kerbela,  89,  224,  254,  290   (XVI,  2). 

Kern,  Fr.  80    (VII,  6). 

al-Kettani,  181. 

Khabab,   150. 

Khalid  ibn-Makhlad,  291    (XVII,  3). 

Khalid  ibn-Sinan,  4. 

Kharijites,  92,  217. 

Khassaf,   Abu   Bekr   Ahmed,   83    (X, 

9). 
Khawwas,  Seyyidi  'Ali,  281   (XI,  5). 
Kheragh  ^Ali,  Moulavi,  75  (II,  3). 
Khorasan,  262. 


INDEX. 


353 


Khojas,  270. 

al-Khwarizmi,  Abu  Bekr,  277  (IV,  4). 

al-Kifti,  75   (II,  3). 

al-Kin'di,  282   (XI,  16). 

Kitab,  Akdas,  318,  338  (X,  9,  11,  13, 

16). 
Koran,  7,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  17. 
Not  sufficient,  28-29. 
Created  or  uncreated,  120  ff. 
"What  is  it,  123. 
Ash'ari's  teaching,  128. 
AUegory,  169  ff. 
Kremer,  Alfred,  v.,  100,  172,  177. 
Kuenen,  Abraham,  302. 
Kufa,  262. 

Kufr,  212  (XVII,  6). 

al-Kulini,     Abu     Ja'far     Mohammed, 

276    (III,    3,    6);    277    (V,    1,    4), 

(VI,  1,  2),  280    (X,  4),  282    (XI, 

16),  288  (XIV,  3),  293  (XVII,  25, 

26),  341    (XV,  1). 

Kumeit,  142   (II,  12),  290   (XVI,  1). 

al-Kummi,    Abu    Ja'far    Mohammed 

ibn-Babuya,  286   (XII,  8). 
al-Kummi,  Mohammed  ibn-Hasan  ibn- 

Jumhur,  282    (XI,  16). 
Kunut-request,  251. 
al-Kurashi,  Abu  'Amir,  114. 
Kurat  al-'Ain,  315. 
al-Kurtubi,  206  (VIII,  8). 
al-Kusheiri,  '  Abd  al  Karim  ibn-Hawa- 
zin,  188  ff.,  210    (XV,  1),  275    (I, 

2). 
Kutb  al-din  al-amir,  Abu  Mansur,  69. 

L. 

Lammens,  H.,  81    (IX,  la),  142   (II, 
8). 

On    the    Metawile,    292     (XVII, 
14). 

On  the  Nusairi,  294  (XIX,  5). 
Law — written  and  oral,  43. 

Shiitic     interpretation     of,     258. 
(See  also  Eoman  Law). 
Lebanon,  273. 


Lebh  Shalim  (see  Kalb  Salim),  18. 
Legends,  272. 

Loisy,  on  the  relative  worth  of  reli- 
gions, 15. 

M. 

Macauliffe,  M.  A.,  327. 
Macdonald,   D.   B. — Psych.     Analysis 
of  the  Sufi  Position,  204   (VI,  4), 
337   (I,  5). 
Madahib   (sing.  Madhab),  54  ff.,  191 
ff.,  214  ff.,  221. 

Differences  from  each  other,  59. 
Magi,  14. 
Mahabba   (mystical  divine  love),  168 

ff.,  182. 
Mahdawi-seet,  284  (XII,  3). 
al-Mahdi,  Caliph,  69,  73. 

Persecutes  the  Shiites,  225  ff. 
Mahdi,  90,  158,  232,  332  ff. 

In  Shiism,  240  ff. 

In  orthodox  Sunna,  245  ff. 

Eise  of— belief,  244  ff. 

— belief  in  modern  Persia,  247. 
Mahdi  movements,  245,  284  (XII,  3), 

308. 
Mahmud  al-GhaznawT,  323. 
al-Mahruki   (dervish),  275    (II,  5). 
Maimuni,'  75    (II,    3),    144    (V,   11), 

147   (XIII,  6). 
Makam,  335. 

Makr-Allah,  25  ff.,  33   (X,  4)   ff. 
al-Makrizi,  288   (XIV,  4). 
MalamI,  208   (XII,  3). 
Malamatiyya,  180,  181. 
Malik  ibn-Anas,  45,  60,  61,  132,  299. 
Malik   ibn-Dinar,   165. 
Malikites,  251. 
Ma'mun,  79  (V,  6),  81   (IX,  7),  120, 

291   (XVII,  3). 
Mansur,  107,  277   (IV,  3). 
Marabout,  232. 
Marcionites   (see  Gnostics). 
Manicheism,  321. 
Marcellus-Ammianus,  252. 


354 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Margoliouth,  D.  S. — On  the  influence 
of  the  New  Testament  on  the  oldest 
ascetic  literature,   161. 
Marriage, 

Temporary,   252. 
Mixed,   261. 
Buddhism,  313. 
Beha,  318. 
Martyrdom,    Commemoration    of,    253 

fe. 

Maslaha,  298. 

Mashrak  al-Adkat,  322. 

al-Mas'udi,    81    (IX,    10),    143    (III, 

3),  199   (I,  6),  293    (XVIII,  9). 
Mashaf  Fatima,  280  (X,  4). 
Ma^sum,  79   (VI,  2). 
al-Maturidi,  116  ff.,  122. 
Maulid  al-Nabi,  298. 
Mawakif,  147   (XIII,  3,  7,  10). 
al-Mawerdi,  145  (IX,  3),  200  (II,  8), 

278   (VII,  6). 
Mazdar,  abu  Musa,  125. 
Mazhar  (Manzar),  316. 
Mecca,  7  ff.,  22. 
Meccans,  296. 
Medina,  7  &.,  22. 
al-Meidani,  277   (IV,  9). 
al-Menini,  Ahmed,  285   (XII,  6),  286 

(XII,  9).  " 
Melikshah,   69. 
MeriU,  Selah,  259. 
Merwan  I.,  141   (II,  1). 
Meshreb,  Sheikh,  181. 
MetawUe,  259,  292   (XVII,  14,  15). 
Mi' dad  ibn-Yezid,  159,  203  (III,  12). 
Midianites,  25. 
Midrash,  32   (IX,  1),  33   (X,  1),  145 

(XI,  1)    (see  also  Agada  and  Tal- 
mud). 
Mikdad    ibn-' Abdallah    al-Hnii,    287 

(XIII,  5). 
Milet  al-bayan,  316. 
Milet  al-furkan,  316. 
Miramolin,      Miramomelin,      Miramo- 

melli,  223. 


Mirza  Ghulam  Ahmed,  332. 
Mirza  Mohammed  'AH,  312,  322, 
Mohammed, 

A  guide,  21. 
A  witness,  21. 
Not  a-paragon,  21,  22. 
Prophet  of  battle  and  war,  23. 
Worldly  ambition,  24. 
A  world  prophet,  27,  28,  38. 
Horizon  circumscribed,  37. 
''Companions"    of,  42. 
Character,  156. 
Humor,  201  (II,  18). 
Blamed    by    some    Shiite    sects, 
233,  278   (VIII,  2). 

Eegarded  as  a  traitor,  278  (VIII, 
2). 

His  sinlessness,  235. 
Emanation    of    the    world-sj^irit, 
265. 

Eegarded     as     a     myth     by    the 
Nusairiyya,  273. 
Mohammed  al-'Abbasi   al-Mahdi,    284 
(XII,  1). 

Mohammed  'Abduh,   135,   300. 
Mohammed  Abu-1-Kasim,  240. 
Mohammed  'Ali    (Pasha    of    Egypt), 

309. 
Mohammed   (Shah  of  Persia),  247. 
Mohammed  al-Bakir,  236. 
Mohammed  ibn-Isma'il,  265. 
Mohammed  ibn-Ja'far,  263. 
Mohammed     ibn-Sa'dun,      (see     Abu 

'Amir  al-Kurashi). 
Mohammed  ibn-Sa'ud,  308. 
Mohammed  ibn-Wasi',    165. 
Mohammed  of  Jaunpur,  285  (XII,  3)-. 
Mohammed    al-Hifni    (Hibat    AUah), 

283    (XII,  1)'. 
Morier,   James,   258. 
Moses,  183,  231. 

Eegarded     as     a     deceiver,     278 

(VIII,  2). 
Emanation    of    the    world-spirit, 

265. 

Eeappearing  as  Bab,  313. 


INDEX. 


355 


Mu'ad  ibn-Jebel,  40,  202  (III,  5). 
Mu'awiyya,   33    (X,   4),   76    (II,    7), 

152,  216. 
Mujtahid,  329. 

MugMriyya   (Shiite  sect),  234. 
Muhammed,  see  Mohammed. 
al-MiiliasibI,  Haritli,  208  (XI,  5),  275 

1,2). 
al-Muhibbi,  79   (V,  8),  204   (IV,  3), 

292  "(XVII,  18). 
Muhyi  al-din  (see  Ghazali),  191. 
Muhyi  al-dln  ibn-'Arabi,  183,  185,  205 

(VII,     1),     206     (VIII,     1),     209 

(XIII,  14),  280  (X,  4). 
Mukaddasi,    143    (II,    23),    194,    287 

(XIII,  1). 
al-Mukanna%   242. 
al-Mukhtar,   256. 
Mulawi-Nur  al-diii,  334. 
Muktafi   (Caliph),  69. 
Miiller,  August,  217. 
Miiller,  Max,  328. 

al-Muradi,  280  (X,  4),  286  (XII,  9). 
Murji'a,    Murjiites,    80    (VI,    4),    91 

ff.,  143    (II,  23),  144    (V,  1),  212 

(XVII,  6),  212  (XVIII,  3),  218. 
al-Mufid,  al-Sheikh,  292   (XVII,  18). 
Miisa  al-Kazim,  241. 
Muslim,  31  (VII,  2),  44,  255. 
Mustansir      (Fatimide     caliph),     287 

(XIII,  4). 
Muta'a     (temporary    marriage),    252 

ff. 
Mutakallim,   105,   137,   181,   191. 

Mu'tasim,   68. 

Mutawakkil  (Abbaside),  40,  121,  225. 

Mutawali,  259. 

Mu'tazilites,   106   ff.,   220. 

On    the    justice    and    unity    of 
Allah,  174  ff. 

On  anthropomorphism,  112. 

On  divine  attributes,  115  ff. 

Declare  Koran  created,  119  ff. 

Eationalistic  but  intolerant,  124. 


Their   doctrines   accepted  by  the 
state,  125. 

Contrasted   with   Ash'arites.    127 
ff.,  130,  197,  212  (XVIII,  3). 

Eolation  to  Aristotelianism,  137. 

Form  no  sect,  214  ff. 

Eelation  to  Kharijites,  220. 

Eolation  to  Shiites,  249  ff. 

Modern,  331. 
Muwahhid,   143    (II,  23). 
Muwaffak      al-din      'Abdallah      ibn- 

Kudama,  145'  (VI,  2). 
Muwatta-Codex,  81  (VIII,  11). 
Mythology,  108  ff. 

In  Shiism,  271  ff 

N. 

Nabid,  68. 

Nadir  Shah,  335. 

al-Najashi,  Abu-1-' Abbas  Alimed,  280 
(XI,  1),  281  (XI,  3),  282  (XI, 
16),  286  (XII,  8),  293  (XVII,  25). 

Na'ila  (wife  of  Othman),  261. 

Naka'id,  83   (X,  8),  141  (II,  1). 

Nakhawla,  292   (XVII,  15). 

Nakus,  76  (II,  7). 

Namazi,  284   (XII,  3). 

Nanak,  327. 

Napoleon  III,  316. 

al-Nasa'i,  81   (IX,  5). 

Nasir  (Caliph),  284  (XII,  1). 

Nasir  al-din  (Shah),  258. 

Natik,  265. 

al-Naubakhti,  Hasan  ibn-Mohammed, 
280    (XI,  1).' 

Nawawi,  16,  31  (VII,  2),  32,  33  (X, 
4),  78  (IV,  9),  142  (II,  15),  199 
I,  6,  10),  (II,  1),  201  (II,  17),  202 
III,  5),  206  (VII,  3),  277  (IV,  3), 
279  (IX,  2,  10). 

Nazzam,  137,  250. 

Nazar,  130. 

Nejef,  257,  301,  336. 

Neo-platonism  in  Sufiism,  105,  137, 
166,  171,  177,  206  (VIII,  1),  264. 


356 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


New  Testament,  19,  27,  45. 

Nestorian  translation  into  Arabic, 
144  (V,  2). 

Influence    on    ascetics    of    Islam, 

161,  164  ff. 

In  Behaism,  320. 
Among  the  Alimediyya,  333. 
Neyya,  18,  48. 
Nicholson,  E.  A.,  171,  177. 
Nirang,  260. 
Nirvana   (see  Atman). 
Nizam  al-Mulk,  127. 
Nizam-schools,  127,  190. 
Noah,  Development  of  Ms  legend  in 

Islam,  281   (XI,  5). 
Noer,  Count  of,  328. 
Noldeke,  27,  34  (XI,  2). 

History  of  the  Koran,  30  (V,  2), 
35   (XII,  1),  201   (II,  19). 
On  the  Sufi,  204  (V,  5). 
Noyes,  John  Humphrey,  252. 
Nusairiyya,  233,  273  ff.,  292    (XVII, 

14),  294   (IX,  5). 
Nur  al-din,  203  (III,  5). 

o. 

Old  Testament,  6,  17  ff.,  45,  133,  201 
(III,  1). 

Imam    theory    proved    from,    276 
(III,  6). 

Proofs    for    Beha',    322,    333    ff. 

(see  also  Torah). 

^Omar  I,  39,  67,  75   (II,  2),  76   (II, 

8),   87   ff.,   216,   279    (IX,   6),   283 

(XII,  1),  261  fe. 

Forbids  temporary  marriage,  253. 

'Omar  II,   40,   52,   68,   142    (II,   16), 

162,  309. 

'Omar  ibn-al-Farid,    ''Sultan  al-'ash- 

ikin,"     168,    171. 
Omayyads,  51. 

Complaints  against,   41. 

Indifference  to  Islam,  87  ff. 

Freedom  of  will,  103  f£. 

Not  theocratic,  151. 


Wars  against  'Aliites,  216  ff. 

Wars  against  Kharijites,  219   ff. 

Opposed  to  Shiism,  222,  225  ff., 
276   (III,  7). 

Their  fall,  225,  244  ff. 
'Othman,    (caliph),  34    (XII,  1),  92, 
152,  159  ff.,  216. 

Has  a  Christian  wife,  260  ff. 
'Othman  ibn-Maz'un,  199  (II,  6). 
'Othman  ibn-' Ubaidallah,  157. 

P. 

Palmer,  25. 

Pan-Islamism,  335. 

Pantheism  (see  Neo-platonism). 

Parsees,  14,  321. 

Parousia,   256. 

Patton,  W.  M.,  121. 

Perfectionists,  252. 

Persia,   270,   321. 

Pharisees    (Arabic   transl.    of   word), 

144   (V,  2). 
Philo,   170. 

"Pia  fraus,"  50. 

Pincott,  Frederick,  327. 

Plato, — temporary    marriage     in     his 

Plotinus,  166. 

Polemic,  Mohammedans  against  Jews 

and  Christians,  9. 

Against  Christian  ascetics,  160  ff. 
Polak,  J.  E.,  258. 
Porter,    "Five  Years  in  Damascus,'' 

41. 

Q. 

Quietism    (see  Tawakkul). 

R. 

Kabi  '  ibti-Khuthyam,  159. 

Eabi  'al-awwal,  298. 

Eabbi  Yehuda,  46. 

Eahbaniyya,  154  ff.,  160,  200  (II,  11). 

Eahib,  (plur.  ruhban),  10,  154. 

Eamadan,  Eclipses  at,  333. 


INDEX. 


357 


Ram  Sanaki   (Hindu  sect),  328. 

al-RazI,  'Abd  al-Karim,  203   (IV,  1). 

Redhouse,  Work  of  Khazraji,  ''Pearl- 
strings,"  288  (XIV,  4),  290 
(XVII,  1). 

' '  Return ' '    ( doctrine  of) ,  242. 

Reitzenstein,  181. 

Renan,  E.,  on  Metawila,  292  (XVII, 
14). 

''Review  of  Religions"  (Organ  of 
the  Alimediyya) ,  334. 

Ritual,  Shiites  vs.  Sunnites,  251. 
Clean  and  unclean,  257  ff. 

Roman  law,  its  influence,  3,  51. 

Rosary,  177,  310. 

Ruhban    (see  rahib). 


S. 

Sa'a,  Hour  (of  the  end  of  the  world), 

282    (XI,  16). 
Sabbath,  14. 

Sabians,  293    (XVII,  19). 
Sacred  law,  only  standard,  52,  61. 
Sadakat,  261. 

Sadhu   (Indian  monk),  172. 
Safed,  259. 
Sa'id  ibn-al-Musayyab,  142    (II,  13), 

199   (I,  6). 
Sa'ihun,  sa'ihat   (wandering  monks), 

161. 
Saint  worship,  Indian  influence,  324. 
Saj',  11. 

Saladin,  203  (III,  5),  259. 
Salat,  21,  91. 

S.  al-jama',  318. 
Salih,  25. 

Samadhi  (Hindu),  168. 
Samaritan,  293    (XVII,  19). 
Samarkand,   243. 

Saoshyaiit  (Parsee  Phantasy),  245. 
al-Sarakhsi,  Abu  'Ali,  197. 
Sassanian  kings,  52. 
Schleiermacher,   2. 
Schools    (Four),   55. 


Seal  of  the  prophets,  265  ff.,  245. 
Sects,  214  ff. 

Tendency  to  unite,  335  ff. 
Sefewi-dynasty  in  Persia,  335. 
al-Sennusi,     147      (XIII,     11),     212 

(XVIII,   1). 
Seveners  (see  Isma' ilites) ,  264. 
Selman  al-Parisi,  273. 
al-Sha'bi,  80   (VII,  2). 
al-Shadali,  Ahmed  ibn-Mohammed  al- 

Siifi,  210    (XV,  1). 
Shafi'i,  55,  57,  83  (X,  7),  251. 
Shahrastani,  145   (VIII,  3),   (IX,  2), 
233,  275   (II,  10),  291    (XVII,  4), 
293    (XVIII,   3). 
Shah-Zinde,  243. 

al-Shalmaghani,  187,  278  (VIII,  2). 
Shamwil,    Shamil,    and    Samuel,    243, 

308,  335. 
al-Sha'rani,      'Abd      al-Wahhab,      80 
(VII,    6),    209     (XIII,    14),    211 
(XVI,  2),  237,  279   (IX,  13),  281 
(XI,  5). 
Shari'a,  182. 
Sharik,  69. 
Sheikhite-sect,  312. 
Shemsi-Tebrizi,     205     (VI,     6),     209 

(XIII,  2). 
Shiism,  89,  170,  198,  222  ff.,  224  ff., 
275  (I,  1). 

In    relation    to    Mu'tazilite    dog- 
matics, 249  ff. 

Ritual  related  to  the  Shafiite,  250 
ff. 

Saint  worship,  253  ff. 
Relation  to  tradition,  254  ff. 
Not    Iranic    but    genuinely    Ara- 
bian, 255  ff. 

More    intolerant    than    Sunnites, 
256  fe. 

As  a  state  religion,  324  ff. 
Shirk,  48. 

Widening  of  its  conception  among 
Mu' tazilites,  117. 

In  Sufiism,  176,  184. 


358 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Shirk — Mu'  tazilites 

Saint  worship,  305,  309. 
In  India,  325  ff. 

Shuhfiir  ibn-Tahir  al-Isfaraini,  291 
(XVII,  8). 

Shu'eib,  25. 

Shumaniyya,   172. 

Sifat,  qualities,  167  ff. 

Sikh,  325,  327. 

Sirat-bridge,  109. 

Siyaha    (wandering  monks),  161. 

Snouck  Hurgronje,  9,  30  (IV,  2), 
177,  324. 

Songor  ibn-Melikshah,  69. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  296. 

Star  of  the  West,  322. 

Steiner,  Heinrich,  On  the  Mu' tazil- 
ites, 106. 

Stoics,  137. 

Subh-i-ezel,  315,  339  (IX,  18). 

al-Subki,  Taj  al-din,  34  (X,  4),  77 
(II,  9),  79  (V,  5),  80  (VI,  4),  81 
(VIII,  12),  (IX,  4),  82  (X,  6),  83 
(X,  7),  146  (XI,  5),  146  (XII,  5, 
6),  200  (II,  11),  203  (IV,  1),  207 
(XI,  3),  208  (XII,  1),  275  (I,  2), 
279  (IX,  4),  241  (XVI,  1). 

Suf,  165,  186,  210  (XIV,  1). 

Sufiism,  32   (IX,  1),  165  ff. 

Nomistic  and  anomistic,  177  ff. 
Influenced  by  Shiism,  238. 
— connected      with      Isma'  iliyya, 
268. 

In  India,  326   ff. 

In  Akbar's  religion,  329. 

Sufyan  al-Thauri,  63,  212  (XVII,  6). 

Sufyan  ibn-'Uyeyna,  204  (IV,  3). 

al-Suhrawardi,  278    (VII,  3). 

al-Sulami,  205  (VII,  1). 

Suleiman   (Caliph),  283    (XII,  1). 

Suleiman  al-Adani,  294   (XX,  5). 

Suleiman  ibn-Surad,  283    (XII,  1). 

Sunna,  8,  42  ff.,  90,  113,  295. 
Supplements  Koran,  43. 


Ash'ari's  teaching,  128. 

Differs  from  Shiite — ,  254  ff. 

Fifth  rite,   335. 
Sura,  7. 

Mecca  and  Medina,  10  ff. 
Surat  al-Muluk,  318  ff. 
Sur  la  Pierre  Blanche,  37. 
al-Suyuti,  177,  204  (V,  2),  205  (VII, 

1),  276  (III,  7),  277  (VI,  3). 
al-Suweidi,  335. 
Swariji  movement,  271. 

T. 

al-Tabari,  33  (X,  4),  76  (II,  8),  80 
(VII,  6),  141  (II,  1),  142  (II,  5), 
142  (II,  11),  203  (III,  13),  283 
(XII,  1),  291   (XVII,  6). 

Tabaristan,  251. 

al-Tabarsi,  203   (III,  15). 

al-Tahawi,  Abii  Ja'far  Ahmed,  289 
(XIV,  5).- 

Taifur,  Ahmed  ibn-Abi  Tahir,  79  (V, 

■  6),  81   (IX,  7). 

Taj   al-'Arifin,   243. 

Tajsim,  131. 

Takiyya,  261,  277  (V,  2),  321. 

Taklid,  131,  144  (V,  10). 

Takwa  al-Kulub,  18. 

Tala'i  ibn-Euzzik  (Shiite  vizier),  255. 

TaUia  ibn-'Ubeidallah,  150. 

Ta'limiyya,  270. 

Talmud,  43,  45  ff.,  50,  78  (IV,  3,  11), 
(V,  4),  80  (VIII,  4),  145  (XI,  1), 
281  (XI,  5).  (See  also  Agada 
and   Midrash.) 

Tamerlane,  Timur,  269,  329. 

Tarika,   175,  182,  188. 
Path  of,  180. 

Tauhid,  82  (X,  1),  117,  249,  326,  329. 
In  Sufiism,  176. 

Tawakkul,  163. 

Ta'wil,  1,  4,  131,  269. 

Ta'wil  al-Ta'wil,  268. 

Tchaiherinye  (Chinese  moslem  sects), 
341   (XV,  4). 


INDEX. 


359 


al-Tha' alibi,   277    (IV,   8). 
Thamudites,   25. 

Theodorus    (Messianic  king  of  Abys- 
sinian Christians),  242. 
Thora,  23,  129,  183. 
Tiele,  C.  P.,  1. 
Tilimsani,  183. 
Tirmidi,  34   (X,  4),  44,  80    (VI,  5), 

143    (III,  2). 
TisdaU,  18. 
Tolerance, 

Towards  outsiders,  39  ff.,  75. 

Towards  the  Madahib,  55. 

Towards  sinners,  90. 

Of  Sufiism,  181  ff. 

Taught  by  Ghazali,  197. 

More  natural  to   Sunna   than   to 
Shiism,  257. 

Between  Sunna  and  Shia,  335  ff. 
al-Tujibi,  210  (XV,  1). 
al-Tusi,  Mohammed  ibn-Hasan,  Shiite 
bibHography,  282  (XI,  16),  285 
(XII,  8),  288  (XIV,  3). 
al-Tusi,  Nasir  al-din,  287  (XIII,  5) 
''Twelvers,'^    246,  312. 


U. 

^Ubeidallah,  150,  263. 

^Ubeid'allah    ibn-Musa,    291     (XVII, 

3). 
'TJlema,  319. 
'Ulyaniyya,  233. 

'Umara  al-Jemani,  288  (XIV,  3). 
Usama  ibn-Zeid,  204  (V,  2). 
Usuliyyun,  291   (XVII,  4). 
^'Utilitas  publica,''   299. 


V. 

Vaishnavas,  242. 
Vambery,  341    (XIV,  1). 
Vedas,  16,  323. 
Vegetarians,  160,  162. 


Vincenti,    Karl    v.,     ' '  Tempelstiirmer 

in  Hocharabien, "    310. 
Vishnu,  242. 

W. 

Wabisa  ibn-Ma'bad,  17. 
Wahhabites,  307  ff.,  311,  325. 
al-Wakidi,  76   (II,  4). 
Waki^  ibn-al-Jarrah,  69. 
al-Wakkatun,  243. 
Wandering  monks,  161,  172  ff. 
Wasil  ibn-'Ata,  106. 
Weli  (cult  of  saints),  303  ff.,  310. 
WeUhausen,  Jul.,  141   (II,  4). 
Westermarck,  Ed.  W.,  295. 
Whinfield,  E.  H.,  171. 
WUkinson,  R.  J.,  324. 
Wine,  66,  67. 

Prohibition  of,  267. 
Word  of  God,  119  ff. 
World  language,  318. 

Y. 

Yafi'i,  200  (II,  11),  203  (IV,  1),  205 

(VI,  10),  206  (VIII,  7). 
Yahya  ibn-Aktham,  81   (IX,  7). 
Yahya  ibn-Ma'in,  82  (X,  6). 
Yahya  ibn-Sa'id,  78   (V,  4). 
Yahya  ibn-Zeid,  262,  272. 
al-Ya  'kubi,  31   (VII,  2),  76  (II,  8), 

143   (III,  3),  277   (IV,  4),  279   (X, 

3). 
Yakut,  81    (IX,  9),  144   (V,  6),  211 

(XVII,  1,  7),  278  (VII,  2),  (VIII, 

2),  291  (XVII,  5). 
Yathrib   (see  Medina). 
Yazid  ibn-Mu' awiyya,  141   (II,  3). 
Yezid,  259. 

Yogi  (Hindu),  179,  208  (XI,  7). 
Yunus  (Maronite  emir),  75  (II,  3). 
Yosua  b.  Lewi,  R.,  50. 


Zahid,  106,  144  (V,  2,  6). 
Zahiriyya,  274. 


360 


MOHAMMED  AND  ISLAM. 


Zakat,  21,  38. 
Zanzibar,  270. 
Zeid  ibn-'Ali,  262. 
Zeidites,  262  ff. 
Ziyad  ibn-Abi  Ziyad,  162. 
Zindik,  173,  187,  214,  321. 
Zoroaster,  Zoroastrians,   102,   259   ff., 
329  ff. 


Zubeir,  149. 

Zubeir  ibn-Bekkar,  201    (II,  18), 

Zuhd,  172. 

al-Zuhri,  77   (III,  1). 

al-Zurkani,  299. 


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